Cristiano Ronaldo has been crowned European Footballer of the Year by France Football magazine.

Ronaldo, 23, won the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy after scoring 42 goals as Manchester United won the Champions League and Premier League last season.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi was second and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres was third.

Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were also in the running to succeed Kaka as Europe's top star.

However, Ronaldo's defining role in United's Double-winning season won over the 96 journalists on the Ballon D'Or panel.

The Portuguese international became only the fifth player to score more than 30 goals in a Premier League season as United pipped Chelsea to the domestic title.

Ronaldo's tally of 42 goals earned him the Golden Shoe as Europe's top scorer, making him the first winger to collect that honour.

Ronaldo's 42nd strike of an astonishing season came in Moscow as United drew 1-1 with Chelsea in the Champions League final. He went on to miss his spot-kick in the resulting penalty shoot-out but United still triumphed.

The only real disappointment for Ronaldo came at Euro 2008.

The winger was expected to be one of the stars of the tournament but he struggled to lift his side and Portugal went out in the quarter-finals.

A summer of fevered speculation over Ronaldo's future followed after he conceded a dream move would be a switch to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

But United dug their heels in and in October Ronaldo pledged his future to the Old Trafford club.

Torres, meanwhile, enjoyed a phenomenal debut season in the Premier League following his big-money move from Atletico Madrid.

The 24-year-old scored 24 goals for Liverpool, the highest by a foreign player in their maiden season, and went on to score the winner for Spain in the Euro 2008 final.

RECENT BALLON D'OR WINNERS

2007 Kaka
2006 Fabio Cannavaro
2005 Ronaldinho
2004 Andriy Shevchenko
2003 Pavel Nedved
2002 Ronaldo
2001 Michael Owen
2000 Luis Figo



Source: BBC