Cristiano Ronaldo looked happy Monday night - genuinely delighted - that he had been again handed the Ballon d'Or, that trophy he covets more than any other.
He was so overcome with emotion at last year's event that we were very nearly treated to football's very own Sally Field "You like me, you really like me" speech from the 1984 Oscars ceremony. This time, with the result in the bag long before the announcement, the reaction was relatively muted, but this is the silverware he wants most of all.
Generally it takes great players to make great teams, but the reverse is also true. There would be no Ronaldo without Angel di Maria, without Luka Modric, without Sergio Ramos. Those players submit to the collective and embody the awareness of two objectives to their game plan; winning matches and keeping Cristiano happy.
Cristiano did not score in the two games he played in Morocco as Real won the FIFA Club World Cup and lost out on the Golden Ball there to Ramos. Consequently, he went through the motions in the celebrations. It had not been his tournament and so it did not appear to mean a lot to him.
His team had just been crowned the best in the world but being named best player in the world looks to mean a good deal more to Ronaldo. That night he flew to Madeira to unveil a statue of himself outside the museum he had built as an eternal testament to his own brilliance.
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