"First of all I have to say a great thanks to all of my team-mates with the club and the national team," he said. "Without all of their efforts this would not have been possible. I am very happy, it is very difficult to win this award.
"Everybody that has been involved with me on a personal level I have to thank. My girl friend, my friends, my son. It is a tremendously emotional moment. All I can say is thank you to everybody that has been involved."
Scoring at a ratio of over a goal a game, he became the quickest Real Madrid player to reach 200 goals for the club and signed a new deal at the Bernabéu in what was a sensational 2013 for the 28-year-old. He also scored in both legs of Madrid's Champions League tie against his former side Manchester United but could not help his compatriot José Mourinho capture any silverware in his final year at the club.
Ronaldo won the 2008 Ballon d'Or for his performances as a Manchester United player but since then has seen his great rival Lionel Messi walk off with the prize four years in a row while he has finished as a runner-up three times.
Months before winning the award the Real madrid forward stated clearly that he wasnt obessed with winning the award, but just wanted to do his best for his team and country.
His best was never in doubt as he single- handedly caterpuated Portugal to the 2014 world cup after a tricky two legged clash with Zlatan's Sweden.
Many may have expected Lionel Messi to claim the award for the fifth time in a row, but the hard work and effort of Critiano Ronaldo could never have been over looked.
Ronaldo's victory is a triumph for strength. Its never easy being Ronaldo, a player who the world just love to hate. Often rediculled by the media and even his own fans when ever he puts in a wrong foot.
It beats one's imagination how on earth he isn't suffering from "Messi complex" He has to endure constant discussion of Messi's apparent superiority, as a footballer and even as a human being. At times it seemed Ronaldo could not win. If he scored four, Messi would score five. If he cured the common cold, Messi would cure cancer. Ronaldo's most impressive feat is not to usurp Messi; it is to believe he could do so in the first place. Yet Messi is one of only three apparently unbeatable opponents Ronaldo has had to contend with. He has taken on Messi, Barcelona and Spain, at times single-footedly. Part of that challenge broke even José Mourinho; Ronaldo continues to come back for more.
When one begin to analyze all these then you would come to understand Ronaldo's achievement. He is a monument of conviction. Any other footballer would have consciously or unconsciously surrendered to an apparently irresistible logic. Anyone else would have relaxed and regressed towards the mean.
Instead, Ronaldo ensured an excess of 50 goals a season became the mean. In 2013 he even progressed away from that, scoring 69 times for club and country. He has turned 'Oh I say!' moments into 'Oh' moments. Oh, Ronaldo's scored another hat-trick. Oh, Ronaldo's scored from over 40 yards in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the European Cup (as he did in 2009). Oh, Ronaldo's scored his 50th of the season. He has made the miraculous mundane.
He is just a player who is not satisfied with the "we had a nice game theory", but loves to say I had a nice game, He is a winner and a great achiever. Someone who loves to improves until he becomes the best.
It seems ridiculous now, but he was once regularly damned as having no end product. When he started at Manchester United, he was a fantastic footballer but not a Fantasty Footballer. He dizzied defenders with stepovers that left them with twisted blood and brain cells, yet the Fantasy Football currency of goals and assists eluded him. In his first three seasons at Old Trafford he scored just 27 goals; in the final three, 91. Then, at Real Madrid, he went further. In four and a half seasons he has scored 230 goals in 223 games.
If not for any other reason Cristiano Ronaldo recognition as the Best footballer in the world for the year 2013 will stand as a lesson for everyone who aspires for greatness that Dedication and Hard work are essential ingredient required to be among the best in the world.
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