(SPOILER WARNING)2018 Ballon d'Or final list has leaked

[Evilo]

Who was the dummy who asked her that?

 

[Evilo]

Never mind, it was Martin Solveig (the DJ).

 

[Name Nameless]

Congrats to Hegerberg on the award! I hope she will return to the national team.

 

[hatterson]

In a WC year, hell no.
Neuer should have won it in 2014.
Iniesta and Xavi came in 2nd and 3rd in 2010.
Cannavaro won it in 2006 depite having a laughable second half of the season.
Ronaldo won it in 02 even though it was hardly his best season. Kahn was 3rd because of a dominant WC.
Zidane won it in 98, Suker was second.
Stoichkov and Baggio finished 1 and 2 in 94 after their great WC.
Mattheaus won it in 90 from that great Germany team.

WC, every 4 years, is and should be weighed heavily. Ronaldo had no business being on the podium. And certainly not above Messi.

Ronaldo scored 45 goals and 12 assists in 2018.
Messi scored 45 goals and 23 assists.
Then again you have to go back to 2015 to find more Ronaldo goals than Messi's in a calendar year. With the assist race always easily won by Messi. Which didn't prevent Ronaldo from winning the last Bd'O.

http://messivsronaldo.net/calendar-year-stats/

I'm not saying he *should* have got second because of that, I'm saying that's why he did.

There was clearly a narrative that he was having an incredible run (he was at least from a goal scoring standpoint) and once that narrative builds, it takes a flop to get rid of it. He had an alright WC, and his team won the CL, and has done well enough in Italy to start the season so that narrative wasn't going away.

 

[Cassano]

Biggest joke since Nedved's Ballon D'Or

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Agreed on everything except the last sentences. KdB was better than Kante in the EPL, I think that's fair.
But how about the WC? And the new half season (injured I know but you don't perform from the stands)?

Kante > KdB this calendar year.

Kante definitely had a better WC, although his half-season so far hasn't been lights out in his usual way because of Sarri's system (although, obviously KdB just straight up hasn't been playing). I can fully understand KdB being ahead of Kante simply based on how dominant he was in the EPL last year, and even if he wasn't as good at the WC he still had a pretty solid tournament so it doesn't knock him down like it might another player. I think it's a toss-up, but I get why KdB pipped in ahead of him.

 

[robertmac43]

Messi at 5 is criminal...

 

[StevenF1919]

Biggest joke since Nedved's Ballon D'Or

Lol what? Nedved was immense that year. If he hadn't gotten that yellow card in the semis, Juve would have won the CL. Instead, they got battered in the final.

 

[Cassano]

Lol what? Nedved was immense that year. If he hadn't gotten that yellow card in the semis, Juve would have won the CL. Instead, they got battered in the final.

Henry led all of Europe in goals + assists, he was the best player on the planet.

 

[StevenF1919]

Henry led all of Europe in goals + assists, he was the best player on the planet.

If the only criteria for the Balloon D'or is goals and assists then you'll just have forwards winning every year. Nedved carried Juve to the scudetto + CL final that year.

 

[Cassano]

If the only criteria for the Balloon D'or is goals and assists then you'll just have forwards winning every year. Nedved carried Juve to the scudetto + CL final that year.

Team accomplishments. Henry was so much better.

 

[StevenF1919]

Team accomplishments. Henry was so much better.

Nedved WAS the team. He was by far the best player in the best league in the world.

 

[Ivan13]

Well deserved.

 

[Corto]

Well deserved.

Yep.
I don't even get why some are up in arms over this.

First thing people need to realize is that CL is the best-on-best competition and WC is the same on national level.
If your team doesn't make the latter rounds (Messi), you will have your chances hurt if your rival wins the competition (Ronaldo last 3 years, for example).
Why are people acting surprised by this - especially on this board? How many Harts have been won by players whose teams didn't make the playoffs and how many Smythes went to players whose team went out in the 2nd round?
It's like that in literally every sport. Every competition. Individual winners mostly get picked from winning teams.

Second thing... This utterly false narrative that Modric had a weaker year club-wise last season. It's horses*it.
I saw every Madrid game and they lost the La Liga in October/November of 2017 - Ronaldo was first suspended then had 1 goal in 12 games, Marcelo was injured, Carvajal, Kovacic, Bale, etc. And some players were off-form. Only three players showed up before January - Modric, Varane, Asensio (Asensio later dropped off).
Two things changed in January/February of 2017... A - everyone got healthy (then Kroos and Modric got injured for the 2nd leg of the PSG tie, but after that they were all there apart from Carvajal), and B - CL knockout stages started, and Madrid started looking like they cared again.

Now, the ONLY thing that does work against Modric is that he's looked tired this season (both him and Varane are only beginning to look like their real selves, WC took its toll). Both of them have been noone near their best.
Ballon d'Or is supposedly for the calendar year - but noone cares about the first bit of the following season - they just don't.


Obviously, Messi and Ronaldo are still above everyone else. But the team accomplishments in best-on-best weren't there for Messi (as a consequence his individuality suffered, 6 goals in 10 games in the CL, 1 goal in 4 in the WC) and Ronaldo did top-score the CL and win it (but so did Modric, the 2nd best player on that team) but his team had a rather pedestrian WC.
They're the better player, but didn't have the best year. I don't think the world's best midfielder of the last half-decade winning it should be that much of a surprise.


The French spread the votes among themselves, which is fair enough, I don't even know who had the best WC - Kante, Pogba, Varane or Mbappe (even Griez, not impressive in play, but scored the goals and did the set pieces). They were all great.
Similar thing happened to Spain in 2010 when votes were spread among Iniesta, Xavi and Casillas.

 

[Evilo]

As always some completely crazy votes. Like Benzema first.

 

[Corto]

As always some completely crazy votes. Like Benzema first.

The Central Africa guy? LOL

1. Benzema
2. Neymar
3. Salah
4. Ronaldo
5. Mandzukic

No Modric, Messi, Mbappe. Benzema top and my man Mandzukic 5th.

 

[Evilo]

The ignorance of Neymar is quite telling of his media treatment. He had a dominant year except for injuries (then again see KdB).

 

[Corto]

I mean the ceremony was cringey, Kolinda appearing ruined the whole thing for me...

But that WC line up of France. I mean, I wish we'd won that, and another ref on another day, maybe... But look at that, man.
Not only did they win the WC, they're all so young as well. It's stupid.
Pavard, Umtiti, Varane, Hernandez, Mendy, Pogba, Mbappe, Dembele, Lemar, Tolisso.
Guys like Kante and Griez are 27, still good for at least a WC cycle.
Stupid amount of talent.

 

[Il Mediano]

Congrats to Modric.

A couple years ago I thought it was certain someone like Neymar or Hazard would eventually break the run of Ronaldo/Messi dominance. I definitely didn't have Modric pegged as a future Ballon d'Or winner back then , but I'm glad he did it. He seems like a good dude from what I've seen , and it's nice to see a midfielder win it again.

Just don't make me dislike you by joining Inter.

 

[Corto]

The ignorance of Neymar is quite telling of his media treatment. He had a dominant year except for injuries (then again see KdB).

He was injured for the most important part of the year, missing the 2nd leg of the CL playoffs.
I mean, he missed 3 months, not like he missed a game. "Except for injuries" is a pretty big "except".
And KdB didn't miss games last season, but this season, which is not the same when it comes to voting... Comparison is fair on paper, but pointless in practice.
Like I said, even though on paper B d'Or rewards calendar year, noone cares about September-November of the following season.
And everyone knows that's true.

At the WC, he was good, but not brilliant and Brazil (one of the favorites) bowed out in the quarters.

I really don't think he was overlooked at all.

 

[Ivan13]

I mean the ceremony was cringey, Kolinda appearing ruined the whole thing for me...

But that WC line up of France. I mean, I wish we'd won that, and another ref on another day, maybe... But look at that, man.
Not only did they win the WC, they're all so young as well. It's stupid.
Pavard, Umtiti, Varane, Hernandez, Mendy, Pogba, Mbappe, Dembele, Lemar, Tolisso.
Guys like Kante and Griez are 27, still good for at least a WC cycle.
Stupid amount of talent.

Hate that clown.

 

[maclean]

I thought it was pretty obvious since the WC that Modric had this in the bag. Whatever else this competition is, it's above all a classic popularity contest that is decided by narrative and buzz. Messi quietly going about his business of being the best player in the world unfortunately doesn't play into that, and I do think Corto's points about needing to reach the final stages of the CL/WC to get that exposure are correct. That said, I'm incredibly happy for the guy and am certainly glad he got it over somebody like the guy who came in second. Good to see a midfielder in there and if anyone was going to break the duo, I'm glad it was someone lowkey and humble. As much as I don't have anything particularly against Neymar, I do think it's kind of funny that his move to PSG was supposed to be his avenue to the Ballon, but now Mpabbe's sure to win it before him.

 

[Evilo]

He was injured for the most important part of the year, missing the 2nd leg of the CL playoffs.
I mean, he missed 3 months, not like he missed a game. "Except for injuries" is a pretty big "except".
And KdB didn't miss games last season, but this season, which is not the same when it comes to voting... Comparison is fair on paper, but pointless in practice.
Like I said, even though on paper B d'Or rewards calendar year, noone cares about September-November of the following season.
And everyone knows that's true.

At the WC, he was good, but not brilliant and Brazil (one of the favorites) bowed out in the quarters.

I really don't think he was overlooked at all.

Yes, I'm not saying Neymar should have been on the podium.
But KdB missed as many games.

Your point about not counting is not true. See how Ronaldo stole a BdO after scoring 3 goals against Sweden in a playoff game after the votings in november (and as a results, they reopened the voting).

Neymar was totally overlooked if you compare with many players in the top 30.

 

[Evilo]

I thought it was pretty obvious since the WC that Modric had this in the bag. Whatever else this competition is, it's above all a classic popularity contest that is decided by narrative and buzz. Messi quietly going about his business of being the best player in the world unfortunately doesn't play into that, and I do think Corto's points about needing to reach the final stages of the CL/WC to get that exposure are correct. That said, I'm incredibly happy for the guy and am certainly glad he got it over somebody like the guy who came in second. Good to see a midfielder in there and if anyone was going to break the duo, I'm glad it was someone lowkey and humble. As much as I don't have anything particularly against Neymar, I do think it's kind of funny that his move to PSG was supposed to be his avenue to the Ballon, but now Mpabbe's sure to win it before him.

I wouldn't say so. Neymar is still a much better player right now than Mbappe I have to say.
Last weekend, Neymar was so f***ing brilliant until he was subbed injured. Not just brilliant, he was out of this world. He's a football genius no doubt. Sometimes he makes bad choices. That's not arguable. He sometimes should pass instead of dribble. Or shoot instead of trying to fool the defenseman. But he's amazing.
He's been bothered by injuries, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a healthy Neymar dominate 2019.

 

[maclean]

I wouldn't say so. Neymar is still a much better player right now than Mbappe I have to say.
Last weekend, Neymar was so ****ing brilliant until he was subbed injured. Not just brilliant, he was out of this world. He's a football genius no doubt. Sometimes he makes bad choices. That's not arguable. He sometimes should pass instead of dribble. Or shoot instead of trying to fool the defenseman. But he's amazing.
He's been bothered by injuries, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a healthy Neymar dominate 2019.

But the point is Mbappe's narrative has kind of passed him by. Of course he still has a shot, but it will necessarily mean a CL or WC win in which he is clearly running the show, and in the case of the former not be overshadowed by Mbappe in the eyes of the press and public. He can be brilliant in the Ligue 1 all he wants, and I am certainly not among those that detract that league, but it is clearly much less in the public eye than La Liga or the PL, much as he has done to bring it more attention.