Curiosities of the Ballon d’Or 2021: Haaland out of the Top 10 and Sterling 15th

Lionel Messi won his seventh Ballon d’Or on Monday. Like every year, there were several controversial placements. Erling Haaland, for example, did not even make the top ten.

Eleventh Haaland

Erling Haaland could hardly have done more in a mediocre Borussia Dortmund. He followed up the excellent second half of last season with a brilliant start to the new season, scoring fourteen goals and assisting eight times in eleven games. He should have been in the top 7 at least.

Bruno in the third ten

Although the Euro didn’t go well for the Portuguese midfielder, Fernandes should have been higher. He kept Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer afloat all last season, but this year he is still in the shadow of compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo. Fifteenth, maybe even tenth would be adequate.

The best stoppers from the worst Juventus

Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci are the best stoppers of the past year, according to Monday’s poll. They deserve a lot of praise for a successful European Championship, but their performances at club level should see them out of this ranking. After all, Juventus didn’t win a championship for the first time in a decade with them on the defensive end.

Fifteenth Sterling

Riyad Mahrez was exorbitantly high the year before last, this year his teammate Raheem Sterling. He dropped out of the lineup in the spring part of last season and is not a mainstay in the current one either. The only bright spot was the Euros, but even there he didn’t perform worthy of being in the top 30 footballers in the world.

Kjaer before Dias

All credit to Simon Kjaer for his quick reaction after Christian Eriksen’s collapse at the Euros, but 18th place in the Ballon d’Or poll is a bit out of place. Kjaer shone at the Euros and has become a mainstay for AC Milan, but for him to be ahead of Ruben Dias (26th) in the rankings is absolutely misguided.

The absence of Bayern’s stars

A number of stars did not fit into the 30-strong list. Besides Dusan Vlahovic, a lot of attention was paid to Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich. The former mentioned is one of the best assistants of 2021, the latter is perhaps the best defensive midfielder of the moment.

The absence of Kroos

Toni Kroos is one of the best central midfielders of today. Few have maintained such consistent performances as the German midfielder. The four-time Champions League winner once again dragged Real Madrid’s midfield and his absence in the top 30 is thus quite shocking.

Source: Ballon d’Or 2021