Messi and Neymar misses out on the list of Ballon d’Or nominees

• The shortlist for this year’s Ballon d’Or award is out. Liverpool, Manchester City, and Real Madrid have each produced six players. 
• Lionel Messi has been left out of this year’s Ballon d’Or nominees. Neymar Jr also had no place on the men’s shortlist. 

France Football magazine has revealed the 30 nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or award. The winner of the prestigious individual award will be announced on October 17, 2021. 

Several big names in the football world are missing from the list of 30 nominees. Lionel Messi and Neymar are among the big names not on the list revealed by France Football magazine.

Neymar Jr and Lionel Messi. Photo/ Football Transfers.com.

Lionel Messi had a difficult 2021-22 season with Paris Saint-Germain. The former FC Barcelona man could not deliver at Paris Saint-Germain as expected by football fans. 

Messi struggled as Paris Saint-Germain were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 by Real Madrid. PSG winning the Ligue One and Trophee des Champions was not enough to help Messi be among the top 30 nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or. 

However, Lionel Messi is the player with the most Ballon d’Or awards in history. The Parisian attacker has won the accolade a record seven times. The playmaker has never missed a position in the final list of the Ballon d’Or award since 2006. 

Lionel Messi is the most recent winner of the Ballon d’Or award. The Argentine forward won the individual award last year ahead of Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema. 

Neymar Jr missing from the list indicates how the Brazilian struggled last season. The skilled forward could not help Paris Saint-Germain go past the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League last season. Neymar has been struggling in recent years due to his injury woes. 

Karim Benzema is the favourite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or award. The striker played a crucial role as Real Madrid won the La Liga and the UEFA Champions League last season. 

Karim Benzema scored 27 La Liga goals and 15 Champions League goals last season. He was awarded the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League Player of the Season.

The teams with the highest number of nominees are Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City. The three teams have each produced six players. 

Apart from Karim Benzema, other Real Madrid players in the list of Ballon d’Or nominees are Casemiro, Thibaut Courtois, Luca Modric, Vinicius Junior and Antonio Rudiger. 

Manchester City players on the list are Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Joao Cancelo. 

The six Liverpool players who have made it to the top 30 list are Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Luis Diaz, Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Nunez. 

Other players who are among the 30 nominees are: 

• Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
• Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
• Mike Maignan (AC Milan)
• Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich)
• Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
• Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)
• Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspurs)
• Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
• Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
• Sebastian Haller (Borussia Dortmund)
• Rafael Leao (AC Milan)
• Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspurs)

Karim Benzema is the favourite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or award. Photo/ Sporting News.