Cristiano Ronaldo has become the fourth Manchester United player to win the Ballon d'Or, European football's most prestigeous and prized award.

This follows a stellar period in the 23-year-old Portuguese winger's short career in which he scored 42 goals last season to guide United to both Premier League and Champions League titles, as well as being the PFA Player of the Year, winner of the Barclays Golden Boot, the European Golden Shoe and now, of course, the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.

Ronaldo received 446 points out of a maximum 480. Only last year’s winner, Brazilian Kaka, has ever had such an overwhelming victory in the d’Or. He was named as the number one player by 77 of the 96 players polled.

He is the first United player to win the award since George Best in 1968, who at the time finished possibly the greatest era for the Red Devils, following Denis Law (1964) and Bobby Charlton’s (1966) wins in the same decade.

And he is the third Portuguese player to have won the Golden Ball after Eusebio and Luis Figo. But naturally, despite Sir Alex Ferguson's insistence that there could have been no greater recipient of the award, there has been criticism as to the winner.

Inter coach Jose Mourinho was anything but diplomatic in his response to Ronaldo’s triumph, stating that he would have preferred one of his own players to have won the d’Or. While Inter are all but unchallenged in the Serie A this season, Swedish player and Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was short-listed for the award but did not finish in the top three.