Last year was a major breakthrough for Cristiano Ronaldo.

After four straight years as No. 2 in the world (and in one year he was not even in the top three), the Portuguese superstar is in the running to finish up 2014 as the top player in the world for the second straight year.

That would put him in an exclusive group that includes Lionel Messi, Johan Cruyff, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten as the only players to win the award in back-to-back years. Moreover, his third trophy would unite him with Cruyff, Platini, van Basten and Messi as the only players to win the award three times.

But there are some camps that feel that Ronaldo could be due for a disappointment. Everyone knows this award is in many ways a popularity contest and that Messi is a lot of peoples’ favorite. He had great stats and could still see his way to the award. There is also the threat of Manuel Neuer who, as a World Cup winner and the first goalie in years to finish as a finalist, could steal the spotlight in a shocking turn of events.

But ultimately this will come down to how people perceive Ronaldo’s year to have gone, and there is no better way to measure this than by comparing his work in 2014 to his achievements in the years he won the award -- 2008 and 2013.

His first Ballon d’Or came while he was a member of Manchester United and was only 23 years old. He put up an astounding 42 goals in 49 games that season, a ton more than his great rival. He also won a plethora of trophies with Manchester United that year, including the Champions League, the Premier League and the FIFA Club World Cup. On the international front, he only scored four goals for his country, including one goal in the Euro 2008. Portugal’s time was short lived, as the team made it out of Group A, but failed in the first knockout round against the Germans.

Ronaldo’s numbers were superior to everyone else in 2008, though his numbers that year were not great for the superstar by his current standards. That said, he won three major trophies with his club in that year, including the domestic, continental and world trophies. One might argue this is far superior to his current achievements with Real Madrid, which constitute the Champions League title, the Club World Cup, the Euro Super Cup and the Copa del Rey.

But no one can argue that his win in 2013 was inspired by his club trophy output. Ronaldo did not win a single trophy that year with club or country. What he did do to separate himself from the pack was put up a stunning 69 goals in 60 matches. That rate is currently the third most by any player in a calendar year behind Messi’s 91 strikes in his Ballon d’Or winning year in 2012 (when he coincidentally did not win a single club trophy either) and Gerd Muller’s record of 85 goals in 1972.

Of course, that award carries some taint with it because FIFA controversially extended the voting deadline, claiming many of the voters had not sent in their submissions. Many believed this was done to allow for Ronaldo’s heroics in the FIFA World Cup playoffs to be factored in. Ronaldo scored four goals for Portugal to essentially lead his nation into the World Cup. Prior to his heroics and the extension, many believed Franck Ribery had the award in the bag.

There is no deadline this year, and Ronaldo is likely happy about that. And why wouldn’t he? The deadline closed before his great rival could break to long-standing records for the most goals ever in the Spanish league and Champions League. That could have skewed voting in Messi’s favor, especially when considering their statistics are not so disparate. Messi finished with 58 goals and 21 assists in 66 matches, while Ronaldo had 61 goals and 22 assists in 60 games. Ronaldo bests his rival in both categories, but many would point to Ronaldo’s higher number of penalty goals.

But there are a few things in Ronaldo’s favor that help him win this award. In comparison to 2008, his goal scoring count is far higher. The competition is closer in that respect, but Ronaldo’s 61 ranks as the eighth highest tally of goals scored in a calendar year. And for those keeping track, Ronaldo has four of the highest tallies in the top nine, while Messi, who owns the all-time record of 91 goals, has never maintained as consistent of a rate of scoring as his rival and has no other entries in the top nine. The goal scoring is less than in 2013, but it is only a difference of eight goals. And while Ronaldo had eight more tallies in 2013, his tallies in 2014 were far more meaningful.

He scored 17 goals in the Champions League during 2013-14, and eight of them came in 2014 during the knockout rounds. Most importantly, he scored goals in every single round of that tournament and broke the all-time record set by his rival only a few years earlier. His prowess helped his club hoist the historic 10th European trophy -- no small feat.

He also put up some big goals to lead Real Madrid to the Copa del Rey final. While he did not play in the final, he was instrumental in dispatching rival Atletico Madrid in the semifinals.

And if that is not enough, he put up two goals to clinch the Euro Super Cup and has gone on a tear of 32 goals and 12 assists in 25 matches, the best such start to a season. He could easily top Messi’s 50 goals in 2011-12, and if his team plays enough games, he could even set the record for most goals in a season, surpassing Messi’s 73 in 2011-12. But there is still a long way to go.

But that just goes to show how amazing Ronaldo’s scoring run has been. Along the way, he has broken the record for most hat tricks in Spain, became the fastest player to 200 goals in Spain and is steadily climbing the ranks of Spain’s greatest scorer ever.

Moreover, Ronaldo’s goalscoring streak is in line with how the Ballon d’Or has been determined in recent years. Messi scored 40 of his 91 goals in the last four months of the year.

And in 2013, Ronaldo scored 34 goals of his 69 goals in the last four months of the year, as well. Of those goals, 27 were for Real Madrid.

How does that number compare with 2014’s finish? Ronaldo scored 32 club goals thus far (though he has had more competitions to score in) and five international goals as well for a total of 37. It is a slim margin when compared to last year, but it is also a higher percentage of his overall tally for the year. Over 60 percent of his goals in 2014 came at the tail end of the year, while 49 percent of the goals in 2013 came near the end. And for more context, those 37 goals are just three shy of the pace Messi put up in the last four months of his 91 goals year. If strong finishes are the way to win the Ballon d’Or, then Ronaldo’s work at the end of the year is dazzling in that regard.

And that goes without mentioning the four trophies his team won in 2014, which is a higher number than in 2008 (though the difficulty is not as high for three of them) and a far cry from the zero put up in 2013. He also won the UEFA Player in Europe Award earlier this season.

The only real shortcoming for Ronaldo in 2014 was the World Cup where he underperformed, while his two immediate rivals had solid to incredible runs.

This is arguably Ronaldo’s greatest moment in his career, and if last year’s Ballon d’Or win was surrounded by controversy, this one should be the one to put naysayers to rest regarding his worth and merits.

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