Ballon d'Or 2013: why Cristiano Ronaldo is the man to win this year's award With the Ballon d'Or fast approaching, check out Cristiano Ronaldo's impressive resume that has him one of the hot favourites to take out the coveted award. Cristiano Ronaldo has a compelling case to be the Ballon D'Or winner. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been the two football mega stars operating in another stratosphere in recent seasons, but when it's come to the Ballon d'Or while both have been at their peak, the diminutive Argentine has shaded his more glamorous Portuguese rival. Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year and France Football's Ballon d'Or gongs in 2008 while at Old Trafford, but since both awards were merged, Messi has got the money. This year, plenty of people suspect it might be different, particularly since the voting period was extended to include Ronaldo's herculean efforts in almost single-handedly carrying Portugal through its World Cup playoff against Sweden to progress to the finals in Brazil, the icing on the cake after a wonderful qualifying campaign, which included a 30-minute hat-trick against Northern Ireland to bail his side out from 2-1 down. Ronaldo's goalscoring feats were typically outstanding during the voting period, with 68 in 57 games - more than his two contenders - including two goals against Barcelona that knocked Real's fierce rivals out of the Copa del Rey and 14 in the Champions League. Remarkable. Who should win the Ballon d'Or? On a downer, he was sent-off in the Copa del Rey final, but we see less and less of the tempestuous type these days - and more and more from him when he's needed on the big stage. "He is from another world," Real coach Carlo Ancelotti recently said. It's not just the goals, or the tangibles. It's the workrate, the energy, his ability to pull Madrid from a trough, score a variety of goals and, while Messi spent two months on the sideline with injury, Ronaldo always seems to be available. Then there's the showman in him. The headlines he yields. The footage he creates for football fans across the globe. And the drama. He scored a header in the UEFA Champions League tie against Manchester United at the Bernabeu - and refused to celebrate out of respect to his former club. The trophies might be missing, but this is, after all, an individual award. And when Diego Maradona is backing the Portuguese over the Argentine, that says something! The 53-year-old told Le Buteur: "Cristiano Ronaldo should win. Messi has been injured a lot this year. He backs up the talk with the walk, and after opening his own museum in 2013, it wouldn't surprise if he kept a cabinet free for another addition on January 13. Stay tuned as we bring you the best of Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery before Monday night's Ballon D'Or verdict.