Cristiano Ronaldo won the Fifa player of the year award in January.  He is one of five Manchester United Players on the list to win the PFA Award.  Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Ryan Giggs and goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar complete the list the Manchester United players to be included in this years nominations.

Liverpool forward, Steven Gerrard completes the list as the sixth player.

Nominations for the Young Player of the Year Award are Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young; Tottenham Hotspur Aaron Lennon; Manchester United Jonny Evans and Rafael and Stephen Ireland from Manchester City.

L’Equipe’s ideal team consists of Casillas, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Danial Alves, Messi, Xavi, Gerrard, C. Ronaldo, F. Torres and Ibrahimovic.  Most of the team consists of players from the English Premier League with the Spanish League coming a distant second.  Manchester United supplied four of the eleven.

Eurosport has also followed suite in naming Cristiano Ronaldo to their list of the ultimate team for 2008, but added an extra trophy to Ronaldo´s collection.  Eurosport awarded the Ballon D’Eurosport to Cristiano Ronaldo for being the best player of 2008.  The Ballon E’Eurosport is an imaginary trophy, but the honor is very real.

Team D’Or (Europort’s best eleven)

GK: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid – eight votes out of nine)

RB: Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea – four votes)

CB: Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United – four votes)

CB: Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United – four votes)

LB: Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow – three votes)

RM: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United – nine votes)

CM: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal – three votes)

CM: Xavi (Barcelona – six votes)

LM: Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich – four votes)

FW: Fernando Torres (Liverpool – six votes)

FW: Lionel Messi (Barcelona – seven votes)

Here is the full list of nominees for this years Ballon Dór.

1. Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo.
2. Sergio Agüero (Atletico Madrid), Argentine.
3. Andreï Archavine (Zénith Saint-Pétersbourg), Russia.
4. Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany.
5. Karim Benzema (Lyon), France.
6. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus Turin), Italy.
7. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain.
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal.
9. Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast.
10. Samuel Eto’o (FC Barcelone), Cameroon.
11. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain.
12. Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC), Spain.
13. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC), England.
14. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden.
15. Kaka (Milan AC), Brazil.
16. Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England.
17. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelone), Argentina.
18. Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal.
19. Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), France.
20. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), England.
21. Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Spain.
22. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Spain.
23. Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Italy.
24. Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Netherlands.
25. Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg SV puis Real Madrid), Netherlands.
26. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands.
27. Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia.
28. David Villa (Valence CF), Spain.
29. Xavi (FC Barcelone), Spain.
30. Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscou), Russia.

Chelsea’s gunner Frank Lampard was not available for this game due to the death of his mother Pat earlier this week.

The game started at a very fast pace. Chelsea had first chance to strike after a United defender misplayed the ball in the box. United goalkeeper Van Der Sar reached the ball to prevent an early goal.

United defender Nemanja Vidic was carried off of the field bleeding at the 10 minute mark, after being accidentally kneed in the face by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. Vidic, who earlier this week had been in the hospital due to a stomach virus, was again wheeled off to the hospital. Owen Hargreaves was his replacement.

At the 45 minute mark, Michael Ballack headed a cross from Drogba into the net, putting Chelsea who had controlled most of the first half, in the lead.

The second half began again at a fast pace, with Manchester United stepping up their game.

Rooney who appeared to be injured early in the second half, scored one for the Red Devils at the 55 minute mark, after a Ricardo Carvalho give away.

Cristiano Ronaldo came into the game at the 63 minute mark, replacing the injured Rooney.

At the 70 minute mark, a little bit of controversy erupted on the pitch after Didier Drogba and teammate Michael Ballack argued on the field about who was going to take the free kick that had been awarded to Chelsea, just outside the United box. The argument between the two teammates continued for the next several minutes.

Chelsea made their second substitution at the 80 minute mark by replacing Kalao with Shevchenko. This substitution would later prove to be a potential season saver for Chelsea when Shevchenko stopped the ball from entering the net 10 minutes later.

At the 83 minute mark, linesman awards Chelsea with a penalty kick after Carrick appeared to handle the ball in the box. Michael Ballack struck for the second time in the game, and put Chelsea in front once again.

The game, which was filled with action, controversy and plenty of yellow cards, ended 2-1 for the men in blue. The two teams now stand atop the league with 81 points each. United with the upper hand on goal differential.

Had Cristiano Ronaldo been in the game earlier it may have been a different outcome, but all that is water under the bridge as we look ahead to next match with Barcelona.

Below is a video of some of the Game: