The Balon de Oro, or as we gringos say, the Golden Ball Award is coming up again.
So who are the top contenders? Let’s look at the power rankings and compare them with the betting odds at top sites where you can bet on sports.
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Lionel Messi -110
As Van Dijk said, “Messi always deserves to win the Ballon d’Or. And it is Lionel that leads the race both on the betting odds boards at sites like William Hill, and on Ballon d’Or power ranking sites.
Messi is amazing. In La Liga he has 36 goals and 13 assists on just 34 matches. In the Champions League, he has 12 goals in 10 matches. Plus, he has an additional 3 goals and 2 assists in the Copa del Rey and had a goal and a pair of assists in the 2018 World Cup.
If he wants to win his sixth Ballon d’Or, he’s on the right track.
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Virgil Van Dijk +110
Virgil is right behind Lionel on the betting odds boards and the media rankings. It is interesting to see a defender in the running. The last time a defender won the Ball was back in 2006 when Fabio Cannavaro took the prize on the heel of Italy’s World Cup victory.
Virgil Van Dijk has a legitimate shot this year. He has been a virtual wall against the attack and has even netted 6 goals, 4 in the Premier League (along with 2 assists) and 2 in the Champions League. Not to mention that he was the Champions League Final MVP and Premier League Player of the Year.
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Mohamad Salah +1600
With 22 goals and 8 assists for Liverpool in the Premier League, 5 goals in the Champions League, and an additional 2 goals netted in the 2018 World Cup, Salah is worth a look. The Africa Cup is where we’ll see if he actually has a legitimate chance to be considered over Van Dijk or Messi. He will have to have a marvelous performance to overtake either of them. That said, he is the 3rd favorite on both the fan/media rankings and betting odds boards.
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Cristiano Ronaldo +1600
You might be wondering why Ronaldo is ranked after Mohamed Salah. Well, Cristiano was actually set at +2100, but his odds have gotten better. Ronaldo has 21 goals and 8 assists in the Seria A with Juventus, along with another 6 goals in the Champions League, and 1 in the Supercoppa Italiana. He also netted 4 goals for Portugal in the 2018 World Cup. His popularity may actually get him more votes than Mohamed Salah.
That said, many rankings systems have him behind Sadio Mane of Liverpool and Alisson Becker, also of Liverpool. So, Cristiano is the only discrepancy when it comes to the rankings and betting odds.
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I just don’t see anyone surpassing Messi and his 50 goals and 23 assists. That’s almost 1.5 goals + assists per game, at the age of 31. This is 5 goals more and 4 appearances less than last season. So if anyone thought Messi was on the decline, they were wrong. There is also the fact of the public wanting to see a first in history, 6 awards, which would break his tie with Cristiano Ronaldo.
