He may not have won the Ballon d’Or, FIFA’s ’The Best’ award or even UEFA’s Men’s Player of the Year award, but Cristiano Ronaldo has not ended 2019 empty-handed.

The Juventus superstar landed his hands on Dubai Glove Soccer’s Best Men’s Player of the Year award on Sunday.

“I have to thank my family, my girlfriend, my boy there, Cristiano, my three kids who are waiting for me in the hotel, my friends, my teammates of Juventus and the national team, my agent, all the people here tonight who support this gala,” Ronaldo was quoted as saying by the National.

“I have to say thank you to the Arabic community, which is always great with me. I have to thank Dubai as well – it’s a marvellous place to be, I’m coming every year and I love this place.

“And finally to thank [everyone] who voted for me. It’s a great honour to be here and receive this amazing award. I hope to be here next year to receive this award, of course. Thanks to everyone, and a happy New Year.”

Here’s the moment Ronaldo, looking flash in a white suit, picked up the accolade…

As you can probably imagine, the fact Ronaldo has won this award has led to quite a big reaction on social media. Here are a few of the top replies…

Look, Ronaldo hasn’t enjoyed a bad year at all. He finished third in the voting for the 2019 Ballon d’Or award behind Lionel Messi and Virgil van Dijk and won a couple of trophies this year in the form of Serie A and the UEFA Nations League.

He scored 28 goals for Juventus last season and had 12 goals in 21 games so far this term.

Has he been better than Messi and Van Dijk over the past 12 months, though? The vast majority - Ronaldo’s hardcore fans not included - would say no.

Ronaldo has now won this particular award four years running. In fact, the 34-year-old has won it in six years out of a possible nine.

Curiously, his agent Jorge Mendes won an award for ‘best agent’. Make of that what you will.

Elsewhere, Liverpool won ‘best club’, Jurgen Klopp won ‘best coach’, while Alisson Becker won the award for ‘best goalkeeper’.

The full list of award winners

Here’s the list in full, via the National…

Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica

Best Agent: Jorge Mendes

Best Club: Liverpool

Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker

Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo

Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP

Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart

Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)

Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)

Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze

Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi

Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)

Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)

Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs

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