The rape allegation over Cristiano Ronaldo has cast a shadow over Juventus’s new 33-year-old superstar as the prestigious Ballon D’Or prize-giving approaches in Paris on December 3.
With Juventus star Ronaldo and Lionel Messi level at 5-5 as winners of France Football magazine’s prestigious Ballon D’Or prize for the world’s best player‚ the 2018 award can serve as a tie-breaker.
However with other candidates – Croatia’s World Cup finalist Luka Modric‚ voted Fifa’s best player of 2018; and France’s Russia 2018 winners Kylian Mbappe‚ N’golo Kante and Paul Pogba – in the running‚ Messi and Ronaldo’s 10-year dominance could also be broken this year.
Egypt’s Mohamed Salah is also a front-runner after his record-breaking season for Liverpool‚ who he helped steer to the 2018 Uefa Champions League final.
Ronaldo‚ who scored 26 goals in 27 games for Real Madrid in 2017-18‚ before his move to Juve in the off-season‚ and four goals for Portugal at Russia 2018‚ is again among the favourites and was named on the 30-man shortlist on Tuesday.
However‚ the rape allegation that surfaced last month from American model Kathryn Mayorga‚ which she alleges occurred at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009‚ and subsequent allegations by other women‚ have raised the question about whether Ronaldo should withdraw from the Ballon D’Or while his name is cleared.
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