4 Real Madrid players who could finish in the Ballon d’Or top 10

1. Karim Benzema

Of course he’d be here. Who else could it possibly be? Not only contesting for the mark, Karim Benzema will win the Ballon d’Or as the finest player in the world, there is no doubt about it. If he doesn’t, it would be a tragedy.

The race of the Ballon d’Or has never been so evident, and the margin by which Benzema will be followed on the shortlist will be enormous. There are no obvious challengers to the Frenchman for the honour, and he is the hottest name to comfortably sweep the golden ball.

Given his performance last season, there are a hundred reasons why Benzema should win the Ballon d’Or and very few reasons why he shouldn’t. The football world owes him the award for the numerous goals he scored, the enormous amount of support he provided to the young players, and all he did on the field to make Real better every single second.

Be it against PSG, or at Stamford Bridge, or the smartness at the Etihad, it was all about Benzema and his lores with the ball at his feet.

Apart from the individual factors, his arrival immediately improved the team’s endurance. In Benzema’s absence, Real Madrid experienced several downswings, but with him, everything appeared different and a lot more upbeat.

44 goals and 15 assists in 46 games is not something you’d expect from someone other than Messi or Ronaldo, but Benzema made it a reality. He has ended the Argentine and Portuguese dominance over the title following Luka Modric, and after a season like that, there is only one name worthy of holding the trophy – Karim Mostafa Benzema.