The Ballon d’Or is just around the corner, as the award will be presented to the new winner in Paris by France Football on November 29th. The previous edition was cancelled out due to COVID-19. Recently, France Football officially released the 30-man shortlist for the world’s most prestigious individual award.
From Real Madrid, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema have been shortlisted but quite surprisingly the judge’s panel excluded Toni Kroos from the 30-man shortlist. This omission has raised an eyebrow or two on what basis are players nominated.
Unlike the previous editions which were always dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who have won it a combined 11 times. The 2021 Ballon d’Or by France Football is arguably the most contested edition in recent times.
In my opinion, there are five clear candidates for the award: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Paris Saint-Germain), Jorginho ( Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/Manchester United) and Karim Benzema (Real Madrid).
These five players are going to battle it out for the 2021 Ballon d’Or, so where exactly does Benzema rank amongst the other four competitors and does he have a real chance at winning his first-ever Golden Ball? Let’s get right into it by having a look at the possible rankings.
5. CRISTIANO RONALDO- JUVENTUS/ MANCHESTER UNITED
Cristiano Ronaldo had a brilliant individual campaign with Juventus last season scoring 36 goals and providing four assists in all competitions. He finished his final season with the Bianconeri as the top scorer of the club while also winning the Capocannoniere award for scoring the most goals in Seria.
Collectively Juventus failed as a team on the big stage by losing the Serie A to Inter after nine years of dominance and were sent crashing out of the UEFA Champions League to Porto. Andrea Pirlo’s team still managed to win two trophies despite all their problems after bagging the Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup.
To further build Ronaldo’s case, the former Real Madrid forward performed exceptionally in the Euro 2020 with Portugal, scoring five goals and winning the top scorer award. He’s also broken tons of records by becoming the all-time top scorer in the history of football ( surpassing Pele), all-time top scorer in the Euro’s, all-time top scorer in international football ( surpassing Ali Daei).
While Cristiano Ronaldo has achieved a lot at the age of 36, he’s still far from being a favourite to win the Ballon d’Or this year when compared to the other competitors for the award. It looks like Ronaldo’s wait for his sixth Ballon d’Or continues after winning his last in 2017 while at Real Madrid.
4. JORGINHO – CHELSEA
Had someone told me at the start of the 2020-21 season that Jorginho would compete for the Ballon d’Or alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, I would have thought that person is crazy.
But here we are today, Jorginho is not only a Champions League winner with Chelsea but also a European champion with Italy after defeating England in the Euro 2020 final and is now a clear contestant for the Ballon d’Or.
The 29-year-old played an important role under Thomas Tuchel last season in winning the Champions League by playing 12 out of the 13 games and leading the midfield as well. He was a key player for Roberto Mancini’s Italy team by completing the second-highest number of passes in the Euro (497) with a pass accuracy of 93% and recovered the most number of balls (46). Jorginho owned and controlled the midfield at the Euros and was arguably one of the best midfielders in the competition.
His efforts with the club and the national team earned him the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award for the 2020-2021 season. Many Italian journalists and managers believe that Jorginho deserves to win the Ballon d’Or this year but I beg to differ as he stands nowhere close to the other contestants who are far ahead in the race to win it.
3. ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI – BAYERN MUNICH
Robert Lewandowski was rather unfortunate to have not won the Ballon d’Or last year as France Football called off the award due to COVID-19. Despite being a clear favourite and losing out on the Ballon d’Or last year, Lewandowski did not let that have a negative impact on him as he is once again one of the favourites to win the award this year.
In terms of his individual performance, he scored 41 Bundesliga goals in just 29 games last season for Bayern Munich. In the Champions League, he scored five goals in six games. In total, the 33-year-old scored 48 goals in 40 games for Bayern Munich last season. In Euro 2020, he scored three goals for Poland who are clearly not one of the stronger teams in Europe and in the competition.
Overall, Robert Lewandowski was unstoppable last season and to add to his case to win the Ballon d’Or he even won the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal with Bayern Munich. His individual performances coupled with two domestic trophies makes him a serious contender for the Ballon d’Or. However, despite his best efforts, Robert Lewandowski still falls behind two other players in the race to win it.
2. LIONEL MESSI – BARCELONA/ PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
Lionel Messi is on course towards possibly winning his seventh Ballon d’Or and cementing his position as the greatest ever player in football history. The 34-year-old started last season on a slow note with Barcelona after he had reportedly wanted to leave the club but his transfer requested was rejected by the board.
Despite the slow start to the season, Lionel Messi ended up with the most goals in La Liga after scoring 30 goals in 35 games along with 11 assists. At the end of the season, Messi completed his final season with Barcelona with 38 goals and 14 assists in all competitions while also winning the Copa del Rey.
While Lionel Messi’s performances with Barcelona were impressive, the biggest talking point for his Ballon d’Or case was finally winning the Copa America with Argentina. Messi played a fundamental role in guiding Argentina to the Copa America with four goals and nine assists in the competition.
His triumph with Argentina puts him ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowksi who also enjoyed prolific individual campaigns with the club and country but failed to win any silverware on the international stage.
Then there’s also Lionel Messi’s public relations and marketability that makes him one of the clear favourites to win it. But if there’s one person who could truly challenge Messi to the Ballon d’Or this season then it is none other than Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema. Let’s get to that now.
1. KARIM BENZEMA – REAL MADRID
Not so long ago, I had written an article on how Karim Benzema’s phenomenal start to the 2021-22 season could pave his path for the 2022 Ballon d’Or. However, it looks like Benzema could win his first Ballon d’Or next month itself after winning the UEFA Nations League with France.
He finished the 2020-2021 season with 30 goals and nine assists in all competitions for Real Madrid. He scored in all the big games against the likes of Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter, Valencia and Sevilla.
His performances with Real Madrid earned him back his call to the French national team for the Euro 2020 where he scored four goals which earned him the bronze boot in the competition. His performances last season were beyond phenomenal but a trophy was lacking to build a strong case for the Ballon d’Or.
His success with France in the Nations League and his performance in the final has already made him a favourite in France to win the Ballon d’Or. Most Ligue 1 managers are in favour of Karim Benzema while other legends around the world have shared the same opinion.
What gives Benzema the edge ahead of Messi, is that he’s been unstoppable in 2021. Lionel Messi has struggled at Paris Saint-Germain whereas Karim Benzema continues to fire all cylinders for Real Madrid this season with 10 goals and seven assists to his name. The 33-year-old is currently the best player in the world and has been the best since the start of 2021. It would only be just that Karim Benzema wins the Ballon d’Or this year.