Cristiano Ronaldo beats Thierry Henry in vote for Europe's greatest striker of 20 years

The accolades keep coming for five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo. Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted as the greatest striker of the last 20 years in Europe ahead of Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. The Portuguese icon may be past his peak years but has shown no signs of slowing down despite reaching the age of 35. 

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Cristiano Ronaldo stats: Online poll conducted to vote for best European striker 

BBC Sport conducted an online poll on Thursday involving 32 of the best strikers in Europe over the past 20 years. These 32 nominees were then pitted against each other to ascertain the best among the lot. The conditions set out by BBC Sport to include a player in the list were - the striker must have scored at least 20 goals in three seasons each, while their international goal record and performance were also to be taken into consideration. 

Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Lewandoski, Del Piero make it to the final four

The voting was in the form of pairs, wherein players were paired and the one to garner the most votes would proceed further in the poll. After several rounds of voting, the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, former Juventus star Alessandro Del Piero and Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski made it to the final four. Ultimately, it came down to Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo after Del Piero and Lewandowski were voted out. 

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Cristiano Ronaldo beats Thierry Henry in the final round 

The final voting round pitted Cristiano Ronaldo against Thierry Henry. The results weren't too surprising as the five-time Ballon d'Or winner beat Henry, garnering 54 percent of the total votes polled, to be declared as the greatest European striker in the past 20 years. Ronaldo's stats over the years are completely in tune with the online poll.

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Cristiano Ronaldo stats over the years 

Since making his senior team debut for Sporting Lisbon in 2002, Cristiano Ronaldo has gone on to score a massive 626 goals in 838 appearances. The Portuguese international boasts of five Ballon d'Or awards along with an equal number of Champions League victories - winning it with two different clubs, Manchester United and Real Madrid. 

Cristiano Ronaldo has been sweating it out at training with Juventus as the Serie A return edges closer. The 35-year-old has scored 25 goals across all competitions in 32 games this season. His side are leading the Serie A charts, with 63 points. Lazio trail Juventus by a solitary point ahead of the Serie A return.

Image courtesy: Cristiano Ronaldo Instagram/ AP

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