The Real Madrid forward received the Alfredo Di Stéfano Trophy, which the newspaper ‘Marca’ awards to the best player from the previous Liga season at a ceremony which the president Florentino Pérez also attended

Alberto Navarro

Real Madrid was honoured at the Marca Football awards, which were held in the Red Room of the Teatros del Canal. Cristiano Ronaldo, for the second consecutive occasion, was presented with the Alfredo Di Stéfano Trophy for the previous season’s best player by Di Stéfano, the club’s honorary president. “The most important thing is to enjoy this prize. It means a lot that Di Stéfano has given it to me, and that he made a big sacrifice to come and give it to me. I have seen him play and he was phenomenal”. The president Florentino Pérez; Miguel Pardeza, the director de Football; and Emilio Butragueño, the director of Institutional Relations, also attended the ceremony.

Cristiano Ronaldo was honoured with the Alfredo Di Stéfano Trophy which the newspaper Marca awards to the best player of the previous Liga season. The Portuguese player, who scored 32 points, beating Messi by six, spoke about Real Madrid’s chances of winning trophies this season and about whether his target for this season is the World Cup: “At the moment I am only thinking about winning la Liga and the Champions League, which you have to try to do every season at a club like Real Madrid. And I will think about the World Cup when that comes around”.

Ronaldo was clear when asked about his recovery and whether he has spoken to Sep Blatter, the president of FIFA: “I am not injured and I do not have his phone number”. On the other hand, on the subject of his conversation at the start of the event with Alejandro Rodríguez, a Madrid supporter who won the Puerta-Jarque Fair Play Trophy, he said: “I was surprised by his story and I have signed a shirt for him”.

Finally, on the subject of Atlético’s performance this season, he said: “I am not surprised because they have looked strong to me since last season. It is a very well organized team which will fight for la Liga this season, even though I am convinced that we will win it”.

Alfredo Di Stéfano could not hide his emotion when he talked about Cristiano Ronaldo and when he gave him the award that bears his name: “He deserves it. He is a born goal-scorer. He plays very well and to win this prize you have to be good at everything. He is doing very well and everyone at Madrid wants him to carry on like that”.

FIFA a anunţat, luni, numele celor cinci portari nominalizaţi pentru World XI 2013, echipa-tip a anului, care va fi aleasă de aproximativ 50.000 de jucători din întreaga lume, informează AFP.
Cei cinci portari nominalizaţi sunt Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus Torino), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Petr Cech (Chelsea Londra), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munchen) şi Victor Valdes (FC Barcelona).
Iker Casillas, portarul echipei-tip din 2008 până în 2012, a fost nominalizat în ciuda faptului că şi-a pierdut locul de titular la Real Madrid.
Numele fundaşilor, mijlocaşilor şi atacanţilor nominalziaţi vor fi anunţate miercuri, vineri şi lunea viitoare.
Echipa-tip a anului, formată dintr-un portar, patru fundaşi, trei mijlocaşi şi trei atacanţi, va fi dezvăluită la 13 ianuarie, la Zurich, la ceremonia pentru acordarea Balonului de Aur.
World XI a fost creată în 2005 sub egida FIFPro, sindicatul mondial al jucătorilor profesionişti, la care FIFA este asociată din 2009.