Cristiano Ronaldo pipped by Fernando Torres in Premier League popularity stakes

Troubled season: Cristiano Ronaldo appeals to the Manchester United bench after picking up an injury against Sunderland Photo: GETTY IMAGES

While Ronaldo is poised to be acclaimed as the world's Player of the Year at next month's Fifa gala in Zurich, he is losing out where it hurts most, in the popularity stakes.

All season the Manchester United winger has cut a lonely figure, bemused at the spiteful antics of opponents and supporters alike, and this impression is sharpened today by the publication of a survey that ranks Torres as the favourite of fans worldwide.

Ronaldo's theatrics, exemplified last Saturday at Old Trafford when he personally asked to be substituted for a hip injury, have alienated even those who do not dispute the pre-eminence of his talent. Instead Torres, the striker as inspirational for Liverpool as he was for Spain in Euro 2008, has emerged as the most popular Premier League player among 32,000 people surveyed for the Barclays 2008 Global Fan Report.

Torres garnered 38 per cent of the votes as team-mate Steven Gerrard was ranked second, pushing Ronaldo down to third. Gerrard arguably came out best of all from the report, which also identified him as fans' second favourite Premier League player of all time, behind Thierry Henry. Sir Alex Ferguson was the other figure to achieve this dual recognition, as he was placed top of both the current and all-time favourite manager lists.

David Beckham's strike from the halfway line against Wimbledon in 1996 was voted as the favourite moment in Premier League history, while Lionel Messi was the player most would like to see in England. Manchester City take note.

The report is remarkable, too, for its cultural illumination: 81 per cent of fans highlighted football as their most regular subject of conversation, while 49 per cent said football was the most important part of their lives.