Cristiano Ronaldo 'Has to Win' Ballon d'Or, Claims Real Madrid's Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale has backed Cristiano Ronaldo to scoop this season's Ballon d'Or, calling his Real Madrid teammate "the world's best player right now."

The duo have played excellently together since Bale's arrival, and the Welshman believes his Portuguese counterpart deserves to be crowned king of world football, as reported by Ireland's Sunday World via ESPN:

"

He's been brilliant for Real Madrid pretty much every game since I've been here. He's been scoring goals... for me, he's the world's best player right now.

Surely he has to win the Ballon d'Or this year. I mean, there's the goals he scored, the performances he's put in, the pressure he was under the other night with Portugal in the World Cup play-off. The way he delivered there showed what a true world-class player he is.

"

Ronaldo has scored 25 goals and produced five assists in 18 club appearances this season, racking up four hat-tricks along the way, per WhoScored.com.

What's more, 10 of these goals have come in his last five performances for Madrid, and have significantly helped Carlo Ancelotti's team to maintain pressure on Barcelona at the top of La Liga.

Perhaps his greatest achievement of the year came in Portugal's recent World Cup qualification playoff battle with Sweden, where he scored all of his team's four goals to confirm a place at next summer's tournament in Brazil.

FIFA extended the Ballon d'Or voting deadline after Ronaldo's second-leg hat-trick, reportedly due to a low submission rate from coaches, players and the media, per Ed Malyon of the Mirror.

With other favourites Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery currently missing important games through injury, Ronaldo should be backed to take home the prize that has eluded him since 2008.

Should Bale continue to build upon his fantastic relationship with the former Manchester United man, perhaps one day the Bernabeu's £85 million man will also capture football's greatest individual accolade himself.

For now, he can take some credit in helping Ronaldo to the award—should he receive it—after helping to stretch opposition defences since his arrival at Madrid. 

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