Cristiano Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or a Reward for His Adaptability and Relentlessness

The time before, he'd stared down the lens of the camera, and now he was staring down them all. Behind him lay Jan Oblak on his back inside his own goal, Stefan Savic on the ground with him and Atletico Madrid as a whole in his wake.  

So there he stood, staring them down in the stands in full pose as the Vicente Calderon fumed, hands on hips and with an expression that said it all, one that only he'd pull. This was all about him: this derby, this night and this year. He was right, too.  

Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned as France Football's winner of the 2016 Ballon d'Or on Monday, but it was that night at the Calderon late last month that was his figurative coronation.

That is where he toppled a fortress with a hat-trick and where he went past Alfredo Di Stefano for goals in the Madrid derby. That is where he re-asserted Real Madrid's dominance over the capital and where he put an exclamation mark on a stunning year. It was also where he did it all while embracing a new position and a new existence, showing the adaptability and self-awareness necessary in a time of transition. 

It's that last point that's most relevant here. With Ronaldo crowned as the world's leading player again, you can rightly debate whether they got it right; whether this has been Ronaldo's best year; whether he's been better than Lionel Messi or Luis Suarez or Antoine Griezmann or Gareth Bale or Neymar; whether collective titles matter in an individual award. It's all up for debate. What isn't is his relentlessness to get here, to still be here. 

This is Ronaldo's fourth Ballon d'Or and that's astonishing in itself. What's more so is that his fourth comes eight years after his first, reminding you of just how long he's been at the pinnacle and thus how significant this achievement is. 

Now 31 and soon to be 32, this level of performance and influence defies what should be the logical arc of his career. The Portuguese is older than all of his nearest competitors—he's two years older than Messi and Suarez, four years older than Bale, six years older than Griezmann and seven years older than Neymar—but still there he is, fending away time and others with a drive the rest of us can barely comprehend. 

But it hasn't been easy. Just like last year, Ronaldo entered 2016 amid doubts and with a feeling of decline setting in. Under Rafa Benitez at the Santiago Bernabeu in the final months of 2015, Madrid's biggest star looked unsettled and frustrated. Bale was Benitez's central focus, and exactly what Ronaldo was becoming for Madrid wasn't clear. 

It wasn't just his numbers that didn't look right. It was the sense of disengagement between he and those around him, fuelled by Ronaldo's confrontation with his own new limits as a footballer. No longer was he a physical force of nature. No longer could he blow teams away in the way he once could. He had to find new ways. So he did. 

The Portuguese's year in 2016 has been about accelerated transition. Steadily moving away from the wing and closer to goal, his game has been growing more focussed and more specific, excelling with exacting trailing runs, deft movement and one-touch finishing. As such, he's played in bursts rather than barrages, picking his moments, drifting stylistically from a stormtrooper toward a supreme finisher and embracing the in-house competition with Bale.  

It's this willingness to adapt and evolve, to do whatever has been necessary, that is the reason for his ongoing supremacy. He might not be a 90-minute nightmare for opponents anymore, but he's still a nightmare.

Just ask Espanyol, Athletic Club Bilbao, Celta Vigo and Hungary, who he eviscerated in bursts. Ask Wales, AS Roma and Wolfsburg, who he sent packing in the Euros and the Champions League, respectively, the latter thanks to a rousing hat-trick. Ask Barcelona, who his winner toppled at the Camp Nou. Ask Atletico, who he buried twice, once with the clinching penalty in Milan and once with his hat-trick in Madrid. 

Even if he's often questioned in regard to the biggest moments, Ronaldo is still owning most of them. The knock on his calendar year is that he had little influence on the two major finals he played in, but to see it that simplistically is to forget that he was the reason his teams got there. Those titles were his more than anyone's, even if many don't like it. And many don't. 

Ronaldo is a difficult guy to warm to and is easy to depict as a caricature. His narcissistic streak grates with many, his extravagant celebrations wind up opposition crowds and his words can alienate. 

Those after Real's defeat to Atletico in February were a neat example. "If everyone was at my level," he said, "we'd be top." Immediately Ronaldo was condemned, but what he was getting at was too easily missed—and it's what defines him. 

The Portuguese was not talking about ability but work ethic, and he speaks of it often. What has separated Ronaldo from those around him is his unparalleled drive, commitment and consistency; his refusal to yield; his resistance to fatigue and injury; his dedication to exacting everything possible from his body, allowing him to go again and again, and then again and again after that. 

Those trademark celebrations after late goals in blowouts draw criticism, but they reinforce the point of Ronaldo: One isn't enough. Nor are two, nor are three and nor are four. Nor are his 51 in this calendar year, the sixth in a row in which he's cracked half a ton. Nothing is enough. There's always something more. 

It's this sort of relentlessness that is underestimated but so unique. This year was littered with challenges for Madrid's megastar and began with the feeling that the beginning of the end was close: Bale was fighting him for supremacy in the capital, Barcelona and Messi were winning the war for supremacy across the country and Ronaldo was facing his own transience for the first time. 

But 12 months on, there he still is. Another Ballon d'Or is his, and every challenge has been dealt with, Ronaldo showing again that whatever is required he will do. In 2016, that's meant embracing his own evolution, shifting the essence of his game but holding on to the essence of himself. Monday's honour was a reward for the relentlessness with which he's done it.