###Early-season rumours of Cristiano Ronaldo's demise—following a slow start by his goalscoring standards—have been greatly exaggerated. The Real Madrid goal machine has burst into life in the spring with 14 goals in nine end-of-season games. His killer instinct, including hat-tricks in the knockout stages of the Champions League against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid—has helped his club to a first league title since 2012 and a berth in Saturday's Champions League final.
Yet for all his feats—which include a major international tournament victory with Portugal, something that has eluded his nemesis, Argentina's Lionel Messi—Ronaldo is often omitted in football conversations about the greatest of all time.
