Brazil forward Ronaldinho was named as World Player of the Decade by prestigious British magazine World Soccer on Thursday, while Argentine forward Lionel Messi was named the magazine’s World Player of the Year.
Ronaldinho won the accolade after votes cast by readers in the 10 annual votes between 2000 and this year were converted into points.
The Brazilian, who was the magazine’s World Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005, finished ahead of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Real Madrid.
PHOTO: AFP
Barcelona, the European club champions, won the Team of the Year award.
Messi, winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or award, is the first Argentine to win World Soccer’s World Player award since Diego Maradona in 1986 and he led a clean sweep of Barcelona players in the player awards, ahead of teammates Andres Iniesta and Xavi.
After just one season in charge of Barcelona, Pep Guardiola was voted Manager of the Year, a clear winner ahead of former VfL Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath and Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson.
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Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty and an overhead kick on Friday as Portugal beat Poland 5-1 to guarantee a place in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals. Ronaldo turned in a man-of-the-match performance in a blistering second half. Rafael Leao broke the deadlock with a fine header 14 minutes into the second half and then Ronaldo got his 134th international goal from the penalty spot 13 minutes later. Bruno Fernandes scored a stunning third from almost 30m out and three minutes later Ronaldo’s pass gave Pedro Neto the space to lash home a fourth from a tight angle. Ronaldo made it five — and 135
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