On Monday night it was the Ballon d’Or awards night and we found out who journalists from around the world regard as the top ten players!
As featured earlier, Lionel Messi came away with his sixth Ballon d’Or on Monday putting him top of the list. This was chosen by a journalist in from each country. They pick their top five players with number one getting five points, number two getting three points and number three getting one point.
After this, all points are tallied up to work out who the winner is. The breakdown of what each countries chosen journalist voted for is also revealed, which makes for some interesting reading…
We also got to find out who is regarded as the world top, ten players. In this are some of the usual candidates along with some surprises!
Would someone please interview the Sri Lankan journalist who votes in the Ballon d’Or. The man is a football visionary pic.twitter.com/MoDzHTzR9q
— Paul Campbell (@campbellwpaul) December 4, 2019
Top ten players
1. Lionel Messi (686 points) – Obviously the Ballon d’Or winner would be number one. He won the La Liga as well as the Golden Shoe. He finished the 18/19 season with 54 goals and 23 assists in all competitions.
2. Virgil Van Dijk (679 points) – Very unlucky not to win it this year. Winner of the PFA Player Of The Year and The Champions League. He wasn’t dribbled past once in the 18/19 season.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (476 points) – The only other Ballon d’Or winner in the list. Ronaldo won the Serie A in his debut season at Juventus coming away with 28 goals and 10 assists in all comps.
4. Sadio Mane (347 points) – 18/19 was a brilliant year for Mane. He helped Liverpool win the Champions League and got 27 goals and 13 assists in all comps. His league form saw him in the PFA Team Of The Year.
5. Mohammed Salah (176 points) – Carrying on his form from the year before, 18/19 was very impressive again for Salah. A goal in the final of the Champions League along with 27 goals and 13 assists all season.
6. Kylian Mbappe (89 points) – Only a matter of time before the French sensation wins a Ballon d’Or. He won Ligue 1 and Player Of The Year as well. Mbappe also got 39 goals and 17 assists.
7. Alisson Becker (67 points) – His debut season at Liverpool couldn’t have gone much better. He won the Champion League, the Golden Glove in the Premier League as well as the Yashin Trophy on Monday night.
8. Robert Lewandowski (44 points) – The Polish striker was only outscored by Messi in the 18/19 season with 40 goals and 13 assist to his name. His side won the Bundesliga and he got in the team of the year.
9. Bernardo Silva (41 points) – The first Man City player in the list. He was pivotal to them winning the Premier Leauge. He got in the PFA Team of the year as well as chipping in with 13 goals and 14 assists all season.
10. Riyad Mahrez (33) – A surprising addition to the top ten. Mahrez won the league with Man City and got 12 goals and 12 assists all year. However, he wasn’t always in the starting team.
So there is your list of the top 10 players according to the Ballon d’Or votes. Matthijs De Ligt got, who won the Kopa Trophy, came 15th with 13 points in total. Just ahead of him and unlucky to miss out on the top ten is Raheem Sterling. The winger finished 12th with 30 points.
Paddy Power currently doesn’t have odds on the Ballon d’Or yet but they do on the PFA Player and Young Player of the year. It’s looking like a Liverpool double at the minute with Mane (3/1) leading the way for Player and Alexander-Arnold (2/1) the favourite for Young Player.
