Why Ronaldo Should Win the Ballon d'Or

While the three most plausible contenders to win the Ballon d’Or award in January have been plagued with injuries, the pool of other candidates who might emerge as the winner looks rather shallow.

So the honor should still go to one of those three players: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, or Franck Ribéry.

2013 might be a time that Messi, the four-time world player of the year, won’t want to remember because it's been one injury after another for him. He was kept out of the last few games of last season due to a hamstring pull. He's now finding match fitness difficult this season and won’t feature in any of the remaining club games in 2013.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo found it within himself to almost single-handedly vault Portugal into the World Cup next year with his hat trick in the deciding match against Sweden:

Ronaldo has been in scintillating form this year, with numerous stats supporting his case:

• He's the most influential player for club and country this year
• He's netted an amazing 67 goals, more than either Messi and Riberry (64)
• He's the current top scorer (17) in La Liga
• He's scored 14 Champions League goal in 2013
• He's tallied eight hatricks
• He's the curent Champions League season's highest goal scorer (8)
• He's scored an incredible 10 goals in nine appearances for his country

Ribéry, on the other hand, may not have be the goal-scoring machine that Ronaldo is, but his amazing field contributions and build-ups to goals are superb. He is UEFA’s most decorated player in 2013, winning four trophies and helping his country secure a ticket to Brazil next year. He is a great a player to watch with his high work rate and pitch run backing him.

Ronaldo will end 2013 with no hardware of his own after losing the Copa del Rey to Athletico Madrid FC.

Winning the Ballon d'Or would go to show that this award is won by the individual performer of the year. But trophy or no, Cristiano Ronaldo has been 2013's finest footballer.