Football

Ronaldo, Rashford and other stars who didn’t make the Ballon d’Or nominations

Cristiano Ronaldo is missing from the Ballon d’Or nomination for the first time since 2004, while Lionel Messi is one of the main favourites to win what would be his eighth. However, the 30-strong nomination is missing other stars who have had a great year.

Published

1 year ago

7. 9. 2023

Jirka Malý

Cristiano Ronaldo

The winner of five Ballon d’Or is missing as expected, as his departure to Saudi Arabia marked the end of hopes. Already ranked 20th in the last vote, the end of CR7 is the logical outcome of things.

Ronaldo has been in Saudi Arabia for almost a year now, having scored 20 goals and assisted 7 more in 24 games for the Al-Nassr outfit so far. He has been firing brilliantly especially in recent games, scoring 6 goals in 3 league duels and setting up 4 more for his teammates.

Recently, thanks to his goalscoring form, he has crossed the 850 goals scored mark for the club and the national team, but far from thinking that this number is yet to move significantly. However, it probably won’t be for a Ballon d’Or nomination.

Marcus Rashford

The English winger has had a great season at Manchester United, scoring 30 goals in 56 games and assisting on another 11. On the other hand, the new PSG signing Randal Kolo Muani, who scored 23 goals and added 17 assists in 46 games for Frankfurt, is in the nomination.

Moreover, Rashford won the League Cup with the Red Devils, while Muani did not win any trophy. It is hard to say why he was chosen ahead of the Manchester United England winger and other players.

Enzo Fernández

The Chelsea midfielder has had a tremendous rise and was one of the key figures in Argentina’s great success in the national team at the World Cup in Qatar.

He played the first half of last season at Benfica and the second at Chelsea. However, a very bad season for the London team seems to have deprived him of a place in the nomination. Still, there are some names in the list that from my point of view he has put in the pocket.

Manchester City

Among the 30 names in the nomination we find 7 Citizens players. However, others like John Stones, Kyle Walker, Riyad Mahrez Phil Foden and Jack Grealish are missing.

Especially the Mahrez – Stones duo would definitely deserve a nomination. The Algerian winger got to 15 goals scored and 13 assists. However, in some key games he sat on the bench.

However, in my opinion, out of the aforementioned players, the English defender definitely deserved the nomination, for whom Pep Guardiola created a very specific role, with which he drove the opponents crazy.

Unfortunately, Stones was struck down by injury, but he put in an outstanding performance at a crucial stage of the season. But now he is injured again.