Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane insisted he has no doubt Cristiano Ronaldo will be the deserving winner of a fourth Ballon d’Or come January, but his hat-trick in a 3-0 defeat of Atletico Madrid on Saturday may convince others.
Ronaldo returned to haunt Atletico just five months after scoring the winning penalty in Real’s second Champions League victory over their city rivals in three seasons.
In the final La Liga derby at Atletico’s Vicente Calderon, Ronaldo’s deflected free-kick opened the scoring before he doubled the lead from the penalty spot and completed his 39th Real Madrid hat-trick with a simple finish from Gareth Bale’s fine cross.
“I never had any doubt. It is not his three goals that are going to change my mind,” said Zidane on Ronaldo’s case to be crowned the world’s best player for 2016.
“He showed it all last season, he shows it in every game. There is so much expected of him, but he is ahead of the rest.
“Three goals in a match like this may make everyone agree, but for me there is no debate. The Ballon d’Or will be his,” he added.
Victory extends Real’s lead at the top of La Liga to four points from Barcelona, who missed the ill Lionel Messi in a 0-0 draw at home to nine-man Malaga earlier on Saturday.
Madrid are now unbeaten in 29 games in all competitions stretching back to April, but this was Zidane’s men’s best display in that run.
The performance was even more impressive given Madrid were missing six key players through injury.
However, those absences forced Zidane to change his system to devastating effect with Ronaldo playing as a centre-forward and the outstanding Isco in his natural role just behind the Portuguese.
“I am left with Isco’s performance, he was phenomenal. In the first-half he didn’t lose a single ball,” said Zidane. “That position is his position and with him behind Cristiano we were very well balanced.”
However, Zidane refused to admit Ronaldo would be retained as a centre-forward once Karim Benzema and Alvaro Morata are fit again.
“He is comfortable in that position and we know that, but we will see what happens in the coming games,” said Real Madrid boss.
A third league defeat in four games leaves Atletico’s title credentials hanging by a thread.
Diego Simeone’s men slip to fifth and are now a massive nine points adrift of Real.
“Above all in the first-half they were better than us,” admitted Simeone.
“For the first 20 minutes of the second-half we created chances, played in their half and controlled the game, but then came the penalty which took the wind out of our sails.
“It is clear that we need to find better solutions for the players to improve and maintain that 20-minute spell in the second-half.”
Simeone’s surprise selection of Fernando Torres ahead of Kevin Gameiro up front failed to pay off as Torres was easily controlled by Madrid’s makeshift central defensive partnership of Raphael Varane and Nacho.
However, Simeone defended his decision to start Torres in a bid to counteract Real’s threat from set-pieces.
“We were looking for more penetration and aerial play,” said Simeone. “With Torres, Saul (Niguez), (Diego) Godin and (Stefan) Savic will also balanced up their height at set-pieces which is something important to consider.”
