It is another year and a new Ballon d’Or will be awarded, a very close match between several players who have had a very high level this season.
These are the five main candidates to win the Ballon d’Or:
The Belgian Manchester City player was on the verge of winning the Champions League final. They won the Premier League with an insulting superiority, being at all times the central axis of their team’s game. Their minutes in the European Championship were magnificent, but they fell in the quarterfinals against what would later be crowned champions, Roberto Mancini’s Italian team.
The Italian player has to be in the betting because he has won everything. Perhaps because of his individual quality he would not even enter a Top 15/20, which does not mean that he is an extraordinary player. Winner of the Champions League with Chelsea and of the European Championship with Italy, being a fundamental part of both teams, and one of the players most used by their coaches. He also won the European Super Cup with the blues.
The French player has shown actively and passively that although people want him to get off that podium, he is a firm candidate to win the golden ball. Maybe it’s not number one, but this third position would be more than fair. The figures of the Frenchman during this season are only available to Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski, who had been proving for years that it seemed impossible to hunt them down.
The Pole had his golden ball stolen last season, which was not finally delivered despite the fact that all the games were played. This decision was somewhat criticized by everyone but especially by the followers of the Bayern forward, who was by far the favorite player to win the coveted award.
Although there are other players who may also deserve it, no one should be ahead of Messi in this golden ball. Not only for the titles, he has won a Copa del Rey with Barcelona and that long-awaited title with the Argentina team, winning the Copa América. Not only for his figures and that his goals and assists place him in the second step on the planet. It is that weekend after weekend he has proven to be above the rest of the players, both when his team won and when he did not.