Modric takes the trophy home, Messi Fifth and 19 year old Mbappe makes top five.
Yesterday, 3rd of December 2018, Luka Modric was the first ever Croatian to win the world known Ballon D’or. After a successful World Cup where he Captained his nation to the Final in Moscow, Modric was named the official player of the tournament. This was not the only individual trophy he achieved in 2018. After a long season with Real Madrid where they failed to win La Liga (the Spanish first devision), a great run the Champions League helped identify Modric as one of the greatest midfielders we’ve seen in recent years. Real Madrid defeated Liverpool to take home their third successive Champions League trophy on the 26th of May 2018 and help Luka Modric win Fifa Men’s Player of The Year 2018 and Making the UEFA Team of the Year. But do all these individual successes make Modric a deserving winner? Lionel Messi coming fifth in the Ballon D’or rankings comes as a shock to most people. Messi managed 45 goals and 20 assists in 45 appearances for club and country in 2018 which saw him lift the Spanish “La Liga”, the Copa del Rey (domestic competition) as well as the Super Copa. He also won many individual awards, such as the La Liga Player of the year, European Golden Boot and made the Fifa world 11. That is along with having the most goals, assists, chances created and man of the match awards in 2018. All these achievements to make him only the fifth best player may come as a huge disappointment for Lionel. Ronaldo achieved a well-deserved second place, after a season that saw him lift the European cup for the fifth time in is career. He also managed to win the goal of the year with his miraculous bicycle kick against Juventus in the quarter final of the Champions League. He also ended the season with 45 goals and 12 assists for club and country, proving that at 33 years of age he is still one of the greatest players on the planet. A podium debut was made by French youngster Kylian Mbappe, who came fourth in this years Ballon D’or rankings. After winning the World cup at 19 years of age and the Ligue 1 in France, we were sure to see Mbappe appear as one of the players of the year. We expect to see the youngster to keep climbing the rankings and become one of the best. His stats this season are already proving the public right, with already 12 goals and 4 assists in Ligue 1 this season in only 10 games. The last player in the top 5 is a second appearance at third place for Antoine Griezmann. Another World Cup winner who managed to help France win the biggest trophy of all with his 4 goals and 2 assists in 7 games. He also helped Atlético Madrid win the Europa League where Griezmann scored twice against Marseille in Lyon on the 16th of May 2018. As well as these trophies, Atlético finished second in La Liga, above Real Madrid and 14 points of top place Barcelona, in a season that saw Antoine score 19 times and have 9 assists. Does Modric’s two goals and 8 assists for Real Madrid match the rest of this top 5? Maybe not but he was one of the most influential players of 2018 and captained a nation with only 4 million of inhabitants to their first ever World Cup Final and brought smiles to the world with his great character on and off the pitch. His undeniable quality on the ball and how he can change a game with a single pass makes him worthy of breaking the Messi v Ronaldo dominance. This is the first time since Kaka (2007) that someone other than Messi or Ronaldo has won this prize. He also beat Messi’s Argentina in the World Cup group stages with a tremendous outside the box effort that made Croatia comfortable 3-0 winners. Luka winning this award should be celebrated as he has proved himself for the last 3 years that he is one of the greatest midfielders to have walked a football pitch. His stats may not be the best compared to the Messi and Ronaldo’s of this world, but his class in midfield must be respected. Who will win the 2019 Ballon D’or, is it the end of an era for the Ronaldo and Messi Dominance? A big year for the up and coming world class footballers.
Premier Football Mag 