© EuroFootball.com
The right-back of the English Premier League leader "Man Utd" club was named the best Portuguese athlete of the year and surpassed "Chelsea" club's head coach Jose Mourinho, who had to settle for third place.
The award, given by the Portuguese newspaper "A Bola," recognized C. Ronaldo's "contribution to the development of Portuguese football worldwide."
"I am very pleased with what I have achieved and want to continue this in the coming years," said the 21-year-old Portuguese star.
The winner of the 2004 prize, "Chelsea" manager Jose Mourinho, who won the UEFA Champions League in 2003 with "Porto," finished behind Lisbon's "Benfica" striker Nuno Gomes and took third place in the voting.
This summer, C. Ronaldo was heavily criticized by the British press for his behavior in the World Cup in Germany in July - the Portuguese was accused of provoking the Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo to show a red card to his teammate Wayne Rooney in the quarter-final match against the English national team.
However, English star W. Rooney stated in August, "that they currently have no problems between them."
After receiving a lot of negative feedback following the World Cup, the Portuguese considered the possibility of leaving the "Red Devils" and moving to Real Madrid, but the management of the Manchester team announced that they have no intention of selling their young talent.
Having extended his contract with "Man Utd" until the summer of 2010, the right-back has been in excellent form this season and has already scored 14 goals for the club and the national team.
