Ronaldo's response to seeing his former team-mate win the award was not as everyone expected.

After Luka Modric beat Cristiano Ronaldo to the UEFA Player of the Year award, many believed that the Portuguese superstar was upset at seeing his former team-mate's triumph. However, the Croatian ace insists that is far from the case.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was a no-show at the gala when the midfielder lifted the title. The Juventus attacker apparently knew the result and thus decided the skip the show, with both Allegri and Jorge Mendes confirming that the 33-year-old was not pleased with missing out on the prize.

However, there is a fine line between being upset at losing and being bitter at seeing a friend succeed. Modric proved this by revealing the classy message he received from Ronaldo shortly after winning the award.

Speaking at a press conference after his nation's 1-1 draw with Portugal in an international friendly, the Blancos maestro stressed that he and Cristiano enjoy a strong friendship even until this day. He then went on to make public the content of the text he received from his former team-mate.

"I have a good relationship with Cristiano," Luka said, as per Tribuna Expresso. "For me, individual prizes are important, but not as important as collectives.

"They are a good thing, but I'm not obsessed with it. Whatever has to happen will happen.

"He [Ronaldo] spoke to me. He sent me a congratulatory message saying, 'I'm happy for you, you deserve it, and I hope to see you soon.'

"As I said, we have a good relationship, no matter what people say. What matters is that he sent me a message after winning."

This just shows that there is always more to things than meets the eye. As for the Portugal vs Croatia clash which ended in a 1-1 draw, Cristiano was absent altogether. The Euro 2016 champion' next game is a UEFA Nations League clash with Italy, but the goalscoring machine will once again not feature after being left out of the squad by Fernando Santos.