Cristiano Ronaldo Wins 2016 Ballon d'Or: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has been crowned the winner of the 2016 Ballon d'Or, beating Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann to the gong on Monday. 

News of the 31-year-old's individual success came courtesy of the France Football Twitter feed:

"If Portugal or Real Madrid didn't win, I would not have won this," said Ronaldo after winning the award, per AS. "The team always comes first."

It is the fourth time Ronaldo has won the award after picking it up in 2008, 2013 and 2014.

In 55 appearances for club and country, the 31-year-old racked up 51 goals and 17 assists, and as OptaPaolo revealed, he became one of an exclusive group of players to taste European success on both fronts in the same year:

As well as netting the winning penalty in the UEFA Champions League final against Atletico, Ronaldo also played a key role in getting Los Blancos there—he scored in both legs against Roma in the round of 16 and bagged a hat-trick in the second leg against Wolfsburg in the quarter-final as Real overturned a 2-0 deficit.

While his performances for Portugal at UEFA Euro 2016 often fell below his usual standard, he grabbed a brace in their final group game to see them through to the knockout stages and scored against Wales in the semi-finals.

Petr David Josek/Associated Press

An injury suffered in a collision with France's Dimitri Payet cruelly cut short his appearance in the final to just 25 minutes, but he was able to get over his disappointment to motivate his team from the sidelines alongside Portugal boss Fernando Santos.

As we can see here courtesy of Bleacher Report UK, plenty of icons of the game have had a lot of positive words to say about the forward:

The AFP Twitter feed summed up how Ronaldo's fourth title compares to some of the previous victors:

Rival Messi has also had a successful year, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana with Barca and notching 58 goals and 32 assists in 61 appearances for club and country, including five in the 2016 Copa America.

However, the Argentinian suffered heartbreak on the international stage for the third time in successive years, missing a penalty as La Albiceleste lost the Copa America in a shootout with Chile.

Meanwhile, Griezmann also showed some outstanding individual form—including six goals at Euro 2016—but lost out to Ronaldo in claiming both the Ballon d'Or and the Champions League finals.

The trio will do battle for the award again next year alongside the likes of Neymar and the world's other elite players.

Ronaldo will be 32 in February, but that's unlikely to stop him being in contention yet again as he further cements his place among the best to play the game. After he recently signed a five-year contract with Madrid, we can expect to see him at the top level of the game for many years yet.