“I’m happy, the Italian championship is very difficult,” the Portuguese star said as he received the award.
“I would like to thank my Juventus teammates and all the colleagues who voted for me. This year I will try to repeat it.”
A jury comprising of fellow Serie A players, coaches, referees, journalists, and current and former technical commissioners all agreed that Ronaldo was the league’s best for the 2018-2019 season.
Ronaldo scored 26 goals in his debut season in Italy and led Juventus towards another domestic title.
In the league, he scored 21 times in 31 appearances, finishing fourth in the top-scoring charts, with veteran striker Fabio Quagliarella of Sampdoria collecting the golden boot award for the most goals scored.
The Italian title was the third different league crown of Ronaldo’s career, having also won La Liga with Real Madrid and the Premier League with Manchester United.
Ronaldo was also named in the Team of the Year alongside Samir Handanovic (Inter); João Cancelo (ex-Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juve), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma); Miralem Pjanić (Juve), Nicolò Barella (Cagliari/Inter), Josip Iličić (Atalanta); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria) and Duv án Zapata (Atalanta).
Ronaldo was absent from the Ballon d’Or ceremony as he claimed his prize, finishing third in the voting of that particular contest, behind Virgil van Dijk in second and Lionel Messi in first.
Ronaldo had been tied with Messi on five Ballons d’Or after claiming his fifth award in 2017, but the Argentine has set a new record, moving ahead of him with six.
