Cristiano Ronaldo, star striker is selected for the Golden Ball award for the European Footballer of the Year on Tuesday. He is the fourth Manchester United player to get this honour and first since fellow winger George Best got it in 1968. Ronaldo dominated the poll result that was announced by France Football magazine, tallying 446 points. Lionel Messi, Barcelona striker came second with 281 points and Liverpool forward Fernando Torres had 179.
Ronaldo told the press that this day is one of the greatest days of his life. He said that he had dreamed of owning the trophy since childhood and finally a dream has come true. Ronaldo finished second last year to Kaka, Milan’s Brazilian playmaker, who was eighth this time with only 31 points. Ronaldo has made 42 goals in all competitions last season as United won the Premier League and Champions League trophies.The 23-year-old player also has won the Ballon d’Or award to the FIFPro World Player of the Year trophy and the Professional Footballers Association and the Football Writers awards. He is the first Premier League player to win since former Liverpool forward Michael Owen in 2001. He is also the first Portuguese player to win since winger Luis Figo with Real Madrid in 2000, and the third after Eusebio in 1965.

An annual poll of football journalists decided the France Football’s award unanimously after short listing 30 players. After the poor performance form the Portugal side at the European Championship in June, Ronaldo had undergone a surgery on his troublesome right ankle in July and was sidelined until Sept. 17. Ronaldo was shown the second yellow card for a needless foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips while meeting a corner kick a few days back. He later stated that he thought he had heard the referee blow his whistle and that’s why he handled the ball.

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It was a nice evening for the English side on Thursday. The English clubs grabbed big wins last night in the UEFA Cup. Tottenham, Manchester City and Aston Villa were the two English clubs to own striking results.
Tottenham smashed Dinamo Zagreb by 4-0, City beat FC Twente 3-2 and Villa built over Ajax with a 1-0 win at Slavia Prague. In other matches, Galatasaray defeated Benfica by 2-0, AC Milan thrashed Braga 1-0, and Sevilla splashed 1-0 at Standard Liege. Darren Bent with his hat trick on Thursday took the game to Tottenham’s side re-igniting the Premier League team’s hopes of further advancing.

The match was affected by clashes between Dinamo fans and officials following the lighting of a flare. Bent struck in a game for Spurs ferociously for the first time to take his season tally to nine, which is one more than his whole of last season. He scored twice in the first half and once in the second. Tom Huddlestone added the score for Tottenham taking its total points to three from two matches. Tottenham is now ahead of Dinamo by virtue of the teams’ head-to-head record. Both the teams are three points behind Group D leader Udinese.

Udinese is now in good form with a 2-1 win at Spartak Moscow. Manchester City has good news with Zimbabwe striker Benjani Mwaruwari making a come back after an injury after four-months. City is a point behind Schalke, which made a draw 1-1 at Racing Santander.

Mario Gomez made two goals in five second-half minutes taking Stuttgart a 2-0 victory over Partizan Belgrade. Villa made its first goal through John Carew. Milan made its efforts alive with a last minute goal by Ronaldinho Group E. Galatasaray, the 2000 champion reached on the Group B top list and is four points ahead of Hertha.

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