Real Madrid keyman Cristiano Ronaldo has said that he will vote for Portugal manager Fernando Santos as the Best FIFA Men's Coach of the year over his club boss Zinedine Zidane.
Ronaldo had a very successful year under both manager, winning the European Championship with Santos and the UEFA Champions League with Zidane which puts him in a good position to win the FIFA Ballon D’Or for the fourth time in his career.
However, Ronaldo was very clear on who he will be voting for among the 10 coaches on the shortlist for the accolade.
"Obviously my two coaches did an awesome job, both Zinedine Zidane and Fernando Santos," said Ronaldo on Wednesday.
"Now, in my opinion it is much more difficult to win a European Championship with Portugal, the first in our history. Zidane's done a fantastic job but I have to favour one over [the other] this little bit, I would say Santos.
"That's not based on our relationship, with both it's fantastic, I imagine they'd do the same in my position."
Fernando Santos who coached Ronaldo 13 years ago at Sporting Lisbon claims that he still regrets playing the 31-year-old against Manchester United as he impressed in a friendly and was snapped up by the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson who is now retired.
Ronaldo went on to win three Premier League titles and the Champions League before making the move to join the Los Blancos in 2009 and helped them to claim two European crowns and LaLiga.
"I was the coach when Sporting played United. I played Cristiano Ronaldo and later wished I hadn't," Santos said on Wednesday.
"A week after [Ricardo] Quaresma left to join Barcelona, then two days later Cristiano Ronaldo was on his way to Manchester.
"Back in those day, I could never have imagined that 13 years on, both of them would be crowned European champions with the national team."
Ronaldo become the first player in history of football to score 50 plus goals in six consecutive seasons and recently signed a new long-term deal at Real Madrid.
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