Ronaldo deserves Ballon d'Or – Matuidi

The Portuguese star should win the award, according to his Juventus team-mate

Juventus midfielder Blaise Matuidi believes team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo deserves to win the Ballon d’Or.

Ronaldo, 33, is a contender to win the individual honour for a record sixth time after leading Real Madrid to a third straight Champions League crown earlier this year.

The superstar forward made the move to Juventus in July and team-mate Matuidi backed Ronaldo to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday.

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“Cristiano Ronaldo deserves to win it,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“He always wants to win and that makes the difference.”

With Ronaldo leading the way, Juve have made a strong start to the season, sitting eight points clear atop the Serie A and moving into the Champions League knockout round.

The team’s most recent win was a 1-0 triumph over Valencia, a match which snapped Ronaldo’s three-match goalscoring streak following finishes against SPAL, AC Milan and Manchester United.

Matuidi is pleased with how Massimiliano Allegri’s men have performed in Europe, aside from their shock loss to Manchester United earlier this month.

“In Champions League we are doing well,” he said.

“We had some good matches and we only stopped against Manchester United because we didn’t score as many goals as we should.”

Juventus’ next outing sees them make the trip to Fiorentina on Saturday for a league match beforea match with Inter Milan and the Champions League group stage finale against Young Boys.