Milan: Juventus and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been named Serie A (Italian top tier league) ‘Player of the Year’ for 2018.
Ronaldo, who scored 26 goals in his debut season in Italy and helped Juventus towards another domestic title, picked up the individual prize in a ceremony which took place Monday night, reported ‘goal.com’.
A jury comprising of fellow Serie A players, coaches, referees, journalists, and current and former technical commissioners agreed upon Ronaldo’s name for the award.
The Portugal international scored 21 times in 31 appearances, finishing fourth in the top-scoring charts, with veteran striker Fabio Quagliarella of Sampdoria collecting the Golden Boot award.
In this season, Ronaldo has managed to score on six times in his 11 appearances. The star forward was absent from the Ballon d’Or ceremony which also took place Monday night in Paris where he finished third in the voting of that particular gang, behind Virgil van Dijk in second and Lionel Messi in first.
Ronaldo had been tied with Messi on five Ballons d’Or after claiming his fifth award in 2017, but the Barcelona forward has set a new record, moving ahead of him with six. Before 2015, Messi had won the award in 2009, 2010, 2011 and in 2012.
IANS