Five Reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo may never win the Ballon d'Or again

The Ballon d'Or, the premier individual accolade in the world of football has been the personal property of this era's two iconic players, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentine magician Lionel Messi for well over a decade now. With 5 Ballon d'Ors to his name, Portugal and Juventus goal machine, Cristiano Ronaldo is tied with Messi for most wins of the glamorous honour.

The mercurial striker, however, has seen a sharp decline in his fortunes this season, with him unable to inspire Juventus to Champions League glory with the Old Lady knocked out by a youthful Ajax Amsterdam side in the Quarterfinals. After dominating the Champions League as its record goal scorer for well over a decade, this is the first season since 2009-10 where Ronaldo has not featured in the premier European club competition's semi-finals.

The Juventus and former Real Madrid and Manchester United talisman has had a poor 2018-19 season going by his lofty standards, standing a dismal 3rd in the Italian Seria A goalscoring charts behind Sampdoria's Fabio Quagliarella and Atalanta's Duvan Zapata. With only 21 league goals this season, he is way off the pace in terms of the race for the European Golden Boot, ranking only 8th in the standings which is topped by Messi with 34 league goals and Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe with 30.

Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus side did secure their 8th consecutive Italian Seria A title with ease this season, but surprisingly crashed out of the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup), getting eliminated by lowly Atalanta. Ronaldo's arrival to Turn was supposed to galvanise the Italian giants to challenge for the UEFA Champions League title but the Portuguese ace's poor form has seen things not go according to plan.

In this article, we try to break down five key reasons Ronaldo's best seasons are behind him and that he is unlikely to lift the Ballon d'Or again in his career.