Publications
Partners
Paris - Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said Friday that his Portuguese striker Ronaldo should have won this year's Ballon d'Or and not Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
"For me, the best player of a season must be one that won," Mourinho told ESPN.
"What (Ronaldo) did helped the team to win something big and I don't think in the history of the Ballon D'Or, one player won it without winning a big thing.
"So I don't think Messi without winning the Champions League, without winning the Spanish League, how can he be the Ballon D'Or?"
Messi was La Liga's top scorer with 50 goals last season, four more than Ronaldo, and capped his season by winning a third Ballon d'Or title.
But Barcelona finished second behind Real Madrid who set records for most La Liga wins in a season with 32, most goals scored (121) and best goal difference (plus-89) en route to a first league title in four years.
Meanwhile, despite reports of a deal for Luka Modric, no new signings have been announced but Mourinho remained confident for the new season.
"The team is really full of talent and we have lots of solutions and we can play in different ways, in different systems, in different philosophies," he said.
"So, what I have in my hands in terms of human capital, human resources is very, very hard."
Real Madrid and Barcelona will play in the Spanish SuperCup on August 23 and 29, with the first of two La Liga clashes set for October 7.
And Mourinho estimated that the Spanish league is the strongest in the world.
"What I used to say is that every team in the world goes to the Spanish league, they finish third," Mourinho said.
"Man City goes there, Manchester United goes there, Chelsea goes there. Who else? They finish third because the two best teams in the world are in the same league, so of course to the others, it's a big difference."
