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Factbox: Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo – Metro US

Factbox: Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo

PARIS (Reuters) – Factbox on Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the Ballon d’Or award for the fourth time on Monday:

EARLY DAYS

* Born Feb. 5 1985 in Funchal, Madeira.

* Plays youth team football at Nacional before joining Sporting Lisbon in 2002, arch-rivals to his boyhood favorites Benfica.

MANCHESTER UNITED

* Alex Ferguson signs 18-year-old Ronaldo for about 12 million pounds ($15.22 million) in August 2003 after an outstanding performance against his United side in a pre-season friendly.

* Named United’s 2003-04 Player of the Year in his debut season and secures an FA Cup winners’ medal.

* Scores debut Champions League goal against Debrecen in qualifying for the 2005-06 edition of the competition.

* United win the 2006-07 Premier League title and Ronaldo is named Footballer of the Year in England and Portugal. Runner-up to Kaka as European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or) and third in FIFA World Player of the Year.

* Scores first Champions League goals in the main competition with a double in a 7-1 thrashing of AS Roma.

* United win a Premier League and Champions League double in 2007-08, Ronaldo finishing as Europe’s top scorer with 42 goals and winning several domestic awards, including England’s player of the season.

* Voted World Player of the Year having already become only the third Portuguese to win Europe’s Ballon d’Or award following Eusebio in 1965 and Luis Figo in 2000.

* In 2008-09, helps United to the Premier League title, League Cup, Club World Cup and Champions League final, which they lose 2-0 to Barcelona.

* Scores 118 goals in 292 appearances for United.

REAL MADRID

* Becomes the world’s most expensive player when he signs for Real for a fee of 94 million euros ($99.98 million) in 2009.

* Nets 26 goals in 29 La Liga appearances in 2009-10 and seven in six Champions League outings but Real finish the season without any major silverware and coach Manuel Pellegrini is sacked and replaced by Ronaldo’s compatriot Jose Mourinho.

* Scores a Spanish record 40 goals in 34 games in 2010-11, including a superb header to win the King’s Cup final against Barcelona.

* Increases his best tally for a La Liga season to 46 goals in 38 games in 2011-12 but is surpassed by Barca forward Lionel Messi, who scores 50 in 37 games. Real win La Liga.

* Has a poor season by his standards in 2012-13 and Real fail to win major silverware, prompting Mourinho’s exit.

* Scores a single-season record 17 goals in the Champions League in 2013-14 as Real secure a 10th European title. Nets a penalty in the final in a 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid after extra time.

* Wins the Club World Cup as Real Madrid beat San Lorenzo 2-0 in the final. Claims Ballon d’Or award in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016.

* Scores the decisive spot kick in the penalty shootout against Atletico to give Real their 11th Champions League title in 2016.

PORTUGAL

* Makes Portugal debut in 1-0 friendly win over Kazakhstan in August 2003

* Helps hosts Portugal to runners-up spot at the 2004 European championship.

* Plays a controversial role in the sending-off of England’s Wayne Rooney, his Manchester United team mate, in the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals.

* Portugal are eliminated from the 2010 World Cup by Spain in the last 16 and Ronaldo spits at a television cameraman as he walks off the pitch.

* Helps Portugal to the Euro 2012 semi-finals, where they are again knocked out by Spain, this time on penalties. Ronaldo does not get to take a spot kick due to misses by his team mates.

* Portugal go out in the group stage at the 2014 World Cup with Ronaldo clearly struggling with injury.

* In March 2014 overtakes Pauleta’s tally of 47 goals to become Portugal’s record scorer.

* In 2016, inspires Portugal to their first European title they beat France 1-0 after extra time in the final. Limps off the pitch after 24 minutes with a knee injury.

* Has netted 68 goals in 136 games for Portugal.

($1 = 0.7883 pounds)

($1 = 0.9402 euros)

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)