Real Sweeps UEFA Awards

In the ceremony to present UEFA best players of last season awards on Thursday in Monaco Real Madrid players swept all the available individual awards.

Cristiano Ronaldo may be with Juventus now, but his exploits with Real Madrid have earned him another honor - just not the one he has become accustomed to winning, Si.com reported.

Ronaldo was named UEFA’s best forward at the Champions League draw, but it was his teammate, Luka Modric, who won UEFA’s Best Male Player honor, leading a sweep of individual honors for the three-time reigning European champion. Keylor Navas won Best Goalkeeper, Sergio Ramos won Best Defender, Modric won Best Midfielder and Ronaldo earned the title of Best Forward.

Ronaldo beat fellow finalists Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah to be named top striker, while Modric topped Salah and Ronaldo for the overall best player award. Ronaldo had won the last two UEFA Best Player awards and three out of the last four.

Modric, meanwhile continued his award-winning year after earning the World Cup Golden Ball for leading Croatia to a shocking appearance in the final at Russia 2018. However Ronaldo, the 33-year-old Portuguese star, led all players with 15 Champions League goals, extending his all-time record in the competition to 120 and marking his seventh straight Champions League campaign with double-digit scoring. One of his 15 goals was a sensational bicycle kick against Juventus in the quarterfinals in Turin, which was voted as UEFA’s goal of the season earlier this week.

As for the other individual awards, Keylor Navas bested ex-Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (now with PSG) and ex-Roma goalkeeper Alisson (now with Liverpool) for the goalkeeping honor; Sergio Ramos beat a pair of his teammates, Marcelo and Raphael Varane, for the top defensive recognition; and Modric got the better of his teammate, Toni Kroos, and Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne to win the midfield honors for a second straight year. The award-winning quartet helped Real Madrid to a fourth Champions League title in five seasons, but the Spanish power will not have the same continuity this season. Manager Zinedine Zidane stepped away and was replaced by Julen Lopetegui, while Ronaldo exited in a blockbuster transfer to Juventus. Navas, meanwhile, is expected to lose his starting role to Belgium No. 1 Thibaut Courtois, who was signed from Chelsea in another major summer move.