Cristiano Ronaldo beat Lionel Messi to the top of the Associated Press Global Football 10 on Tuesday, and Chelsea took team of the week honors after winning the Premier League title.
Ronaldo scored a hat trick for Madrid in a hard fought 3-2 victory over Sevilla, after Messi had earlier netted twice in Barcelona’s 8-0 rout of Cordoba on Saturday.
Messi’s double gave him 40 league goals, but Ronaldo returned to the top of the Spanish scoring charts with 42 and kept Madrid two points behind league leader Barcelona with three matches remaining.
“Ronaldo appeared again when his team most needed him,” Tito Puccetti of ESPN in Argentina said. “He was able to keep pressuring Sevilla and Messi, who had been leading scorer temporarily.”
Luis Suarez, who scored five times across Barcelona’s two wins last week and got his first hat trick for the club in the victory against Cordoba, was third.
“The Barcelona game seems to be geared to finishing with an offensive bang,” Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the United States said. “Two big games last week, with Suarez and Messi both lighting up the board.”
Eden Hazard was fourth after scoring Chelsea’s league-winning goal in the 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace, and Arturo Vidal of Juventus was fifth.
Christian Benteke, Carlos Tevez, Neymar, John Terry and Alexis Sanchez round out the top 10.
Chelsea’s Premier League title win secured it first place in the team vote, with Juventus runner-up after taking its fourth straight Serie A title.
“Chelsea deserve the top spot as they were crowned champions in England,” Aurelio Capaldi of RAI Sport in Italy said. “Jose Mourinho was able to lead them to the top of the Premier League from Day 1 and it’s a very deserved triumph.”
Spanish league leader Barcelona was third after beating Getafe 6-0 and following it up with another big victory over Cordoba. Madrid was fourth and Bayer Leverkusen entered in fifth after beating Bundesliga winner Bayern Munich 2-0.
The other teams in the top 10 are West Bromwich Albion, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Roma and Benfica.
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AP Global Football 10:
Players:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo, 83 points.
2. Lionel Messi, 73.
3. Luis Suarez, 68.
4. Eden Hazard, 54.
5. Arturo Vidal, 51.
6. Christian Benteke, 43.
7. Carlos Tevez, 40.
8. Neymar, 33.
9. John Terry, 30.
10. Alexis Sanchez, 23.
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Teams:
1. Chelsea, 90 points.
2. Juventus, 83.
3. Barcelona, 82.
4. Real Madrid, 79.
5. Bayer Leverkusen, 51.
6. West Bromwich Albion, 40.
7. Borussia Dortmund, 34.
8. Napoli, 32.
9. Roma, 31.
10. Benfica, 27.
#Yahoo News#
