What Happened to Ronaldo After Modric Won the 2018 Ballon d’Or? Benatia Shares His Account
Luka Modric’s 2018 Ballon d’Or triumph was more than a historic moment that ended Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s dominance of the award. It also marked a difficult moment for one of football’s biggest stars at the time. Years later, the Portuguese forward has returned to the spotlight through an account shared by his former Juventus teammate.
The story is not about Ronaldo’s performances on the pitch, but rather his reported reaction after the award went to another player despite his impressive season. What did former Moroccan defender Medhi Benatia reveal about that period?
According to a circulating statement attributed to Medhi Benatia, Cristiano Ronaldo was deeply disappointed after Luka Modric won the 2018 Ballon d’Or, as the Portuguese star had been determined to add another individual accolade to his collection.
Benatia reportedly explained that Ronaldo had enjoyed a remarkable season with Real Madrid, winning the Champions League before joining Juventus in the summer of 2018. However, the final outcome of the Ballon d’Or vote did not go his way, as France Football selected Modric as the winner.
The account attributed to Benatia suggests that Ronaldo struggled to accept the result and was deeply affected by missing out on the award, given his strong desire to continue collecting individual honours. However, the details of Ronaldo’s reaction should be treated as Benatia’s reported account rather than independent confirmation of everything that happened at the time.
Modric won the Ballon d’Or in December 2018 after helping Real Madrid secure a third consecutive Champions League title and leading Croatia to the World Cup final in Russia. Ronaldo finished second in the voting, while Messi came fifth.
Modric’s triumph marked a turning point in the award’s history. He became the first player since Kaka in 2007 to win the Ballon d’Or without it going to Ronaldo or Messi, ending a duopoly that had dominated the award for more than a decade.
