London, Dec. 8 : Manchester United and Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo has said that by getting his hands on the Ballon d’Or award, he is living the dream.

Ronaldo was named as Kaka’s successor last Tuesday and was presented with the trophy on Sunday.

“I’m very, very happy. It’s a dream I’ve had since I was a youngster — I’ve always dreamed about winning it one day. I’m very moved, very happy and I’d like to take this opportunity to dedicate this trophy to my family, they’ve helped me get here,” The Sun quoted him, as saying.

“I thank my mother, my father, my close friends. The trophy is splendid, marvellous, beautiful. I’ve waited for this,” he added.

London, Dec 7 : Soccer ace Cristiano Ronaldo is dating a married woman, it has emerged.

Ukraine-born brunette Olena Haynes is the estranged wife of wealthy businessman John Haynes and the face of dating websites, which find beautiful Russian lovers for British men.

John, 50, branded the football ace a slimy toe-rag after discovering his wife and Ronaldo had sent each other more than 300 text messages.

John claims Olena was using a secret mobile he found stashed in their home.

He says Manchester United and Portugal star Ronaldo, 23, struck up a relationship with his wife in August.

London, Dec 6 : Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he had come very close to signing up with Arsenal before he joined Manchester United.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger met Ronaldo thrice to persuade him to join the north London team, but his efforts failed because Man U offered the footballer three times more the amount the former was offering.

“I came within a whisker of doing it. Wenger is someone I respect a lot. He is very intelligent,” the Sun quoted Ronaldo as saying.

Wenger did his best to woo Ronaldo over to his team and even gave the ace footie a Gunners shirt with his name on the back, but unfortunately for him he was only able to seduce Ronaldo’s mum, Maria Dolores.

London, Dec. 3 : Manchester United and Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo has said that winning the Ballon d’Or award will not put added pressure on him to perform.

The winger was handed the prestigious award yesterday to crown a phenomenal 12 months in which he scored 42 goals last season to help his club retain the Premier League title and win the Champions League.

Rome - Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho said Tuesday he would rather one of his own players had won the Ballon d'Or which went to Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

"I'd have preferred that one of our players had won it," the Portuguese coach said when asked about the award going to fellow countryman Ronaldo.

Mourinho said Inter's Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a player who would have deserved the trophy awarded by French magazine France Football.

London, Dec. 2 : Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the winner of the 2008 Ballon d''Or award.

According to The Independent, Ronaldo hailed it as "one of the most beautiful days of my life" and vowed to keep improving.

The Manchester United winger was named as 2007 winner Kaka''s successor after convincingly seeing off competition from Barcelona''s Lionel Messi and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres.