Black Balloon

From the BBC, that unbiased source, "Ronaldo named Europe's top player":

Cristiano Ronaldo has been crowned European Footballer of the Year by France Football magazine.

Ronaldo won the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy after scoring 42
goals as Manchester United won the Champions League and Premier League
last season.

"It is one of the most beautiful days of my life, something I dreamed of as a child," said the 23-year-old winger.

I find it odd that the BBC decides to finish off this article telling us how Torres (who finished 3rd) was brilliant for Liverpool last season and yet there's no mention of Messi (who finished 2nd).

This report in The Independent has the full quotes from Ronaldo:

"Great emotion fills me but I cannot really describe it.

"I want to thank those who voted for me, those who know me and those who live
with me.

"I was not worried, because I was aware of what I did in the course of the
season.

"But to the people who mentioned my name, I say thank you. Thank you also to
my team-mates.

"This (trophy) is one that I want to win again because it is so good.
Therefore, I will wake and I will say to myself 'I want to be even better'."

To return to Sunday's sending off, Ronaldo explains what happened in this report in The Guardian.  Of course from the first paragraph we can see whose side they're on:

Christiano Ronaldo last night strongly criticised the referee Howard Webb for sending him
off in Sunday's Manchester derby and claimed the man considered by many
to be the Premier League's best referee had failed to listen to his explanation for the handball which led to the dismissal.

Is it really necessary to have that bit about the best referee?  Surely he should be judged on each incident not on reputation? But anyway:

"[Wayne] Rooney knocked in a corner, I jumped and that was when I
heard a shout from [Micah] Richards [City's defender] and
simultaneously the sound of a whistle.

"At that moment I was
convinced that the referee had whistled for a foul. I stopped trying to
head the ball and score a goal, and I grabbed the ball so Richards
could get help . . . after Richards yelled I thought that he was hurt
and needed assistance. I tried to explain what had happened but he
didn't want to listen. I hadn't done anything wrong. I heard the
whistle so I took the initiative to stop the match."

Sounds reasonable enough, doesn't it?

All of which must have come as a surprise to the Manchester City team
who, quite apart from hearing no whistle, had seen Ronaldo pick up a
first booking for hacking down their team-mate Shaun Wright-Phillips

So there wasn't a whistle?  So what?  Haven't we all established this fact?  Does the absence of the actual whistle mean that Ronaldo couldn't have thought he heard a whistle?  And what does the foul on Wright-Phillips have to do with anything?  Jesus.

Final word to Ronaldo:

"I have come to understand that every movement I make, on or off the
pitch, is analysed to death," Ronaldo added. "If I don't celebrate
goals it is because I am sad, if I talk to the public it is because I
have lost my humility. People are always waiting for me to do something
and they pick on absolutely normal and unimportant things to criticise.
They analyse things that have nothing unusual about them through a
magnifying glass."