This year has been a particularly triumphant year for Real Madrid and Ronaldo was one of the chief driving forces behind that pursuit of glory.
Los Blancos have collected five trophies in 2017, beginning with La Liga in May, followed by an historic Champions League success in June, and they carried that habit into the new campaign, winning the Super Cup, the Supercopa de Espana and, most recently, the Club World Cup earlier this December.
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The Argentine was unsurprisingly a key component in their solitary success of the year back in January, scoring a goal, setting up one and initiating the play for another in the final of the Copa del Rey against Alaves.
Given that he was to the fore of an historic season for Real Madrid in 2016-17, Ronaldo’s efforts for the team were duly recognised by the football community in 2017.
The 32-year-old kicked off the year by being awarded FIFA’s inaugural The Best accolade in January, which he subsequently retained in October.
At both ceremonies, Ronaldo was also named in the FIFA FIFPro World XI.
His exploits in Real Madrid’s historic Champions League success – where he was crowned top scorer in the competition after scoring twice in the final – resulted in him being crowned UEFA Player of the Year.
At the beginning of December he then finally caught up with Messi as he won his fifth Ballon d’Or.
Messi, meanwhile, was forced to play the role of dutiful runner-up at the 2017 individual awards ceremonies, but he did have the edge over the Portuguese in some spheres.
The 30-year-old finished the 2016-17 season as La Liga’s top scorer with 37 goals in 34 appearances.
He was also the cream of the crop across Europe’s top leagues, winning the 2016-17 Golden Shoe – his fourth time scooping the gong.
Interestingly, Ronaldo and Messi were tied on 53 goals each in all competitions in 2017 going into the Clasico to end the year, meaning the penalty Messi scored in Barca’s 3-0 win put him ahead by a solitary strike.