Sentence examples for straight ballon from inspiring English sources
Cristiano Ronaldo will have a chance to win a third straight Ballon d'Or award in January after being named on the final three-man shortlist, by Fifa, alongside Barcelona pair Lionel Messi and Neymar.
Although he assured himself a second straight Ballon d'Or with three goals in the semi-final and final of last year's Champions League, all of them were mere pile-ons.
On the men's side, Barcelona striker Lionel Messi won his third consecutive Ballon d'Or.
Ronaldo was presented with his second consecutive Ballon d'Or a couple of days later but his team then tumbled out of the Copa del Rey against rivals Atletico Madrid, and the forward was soon held to another blank in a poor performance at Cordoba, with his irritation again boiling over as he earned a straight red card for a petulant hack at opposing defender Edimar.
Ronaldo ended Messi's run of three consecutive Ballon d'Or victories last year.
Cristiano Ronaldo has conceded his chances of winning a third straight Fifa Ballon d'Or award because Lionel Messi has enjoyed a successful year with Barcelona and will be favoured by those who vote for the winner.
By winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or again, Messi become the fourth player to win three Ballons d'Or, after Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten and the second player to win three consecutive Ballons d'Or, after Michel Platini (although two of his Ballons d'Or are FIFA Ballons d'Or, which he won consecutively).
A shot from Raffael after 30 minutes was straight at the Ballon d'Or nominee, yet as he went to scoop up the ball it bounced out of his hands and trickled over the line.
Mr Messi won the annual Ballon d'Or award issued by FIFA, football's international governing body, to the top performer of the year for four straight years from 2009-12.
The Ballon d'Or winner is theirs.
