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Cristiano Ronaldo and Bundesliga star Robert Lewandowski topped Lionel Messi in 2020 Ballon d’Or weekly rankings.
For the past 12 years, Messi and Ronaldo have been like runners in the same relay team taking turns to grab hold of the Ballon d’Or award, with only Luka Modric of Croatia having managed to intervene in 2018. Last year, the feisty Argentine predictably claimed his sixth, leaving Ronaldo, who has won the accolade five times, behind.
However, according to the latest rankings, “CR7” now appears to have a greater chance of winning the Ballon d’Or once again, or at least that’s how the current rankings look at present.
Every week, Goal reveals their Ballon d’Or 2020 Power Rankings, in which they rank the top 20 players who are most likely to win the most prestigious individual award in the sport. And while Messi and Ronaldo are already obvious candidates, it was Bundesliga star Lewandowski who climbed to the no. 1 spot this week, which is actually not that surprising as his performance in the Bundesliga this season has been nothing short of spectacular.
Below are Goal’s top five candidates to win the Ballon d’Or award this year:
- Thomas Muller
- Lionel Messi
- Kevin de Bruyne
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Robert Lewandowski
It certainly comes as a stunner that Messi, the 2019 Ballon d’Or winner, did not even make the top 3. However, there could be a sudden turnaround as the Barcelona captain has just only scored his career milestone 700th goal in Barcelona’s Tuesday match against Athletico Madrid.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, had to shake off a rusty start after the lengthy break caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the Portuguese icon managed to bounce back and has now scored in his last two Serie A appearances. Ronaldo is still the most dominant player in Italy and a major factor for Juventus as they close in on a Serie A title this year.
Many are convinced that if the 35-year-old can lead the Old Lady to Champions League glory, he could also once again equal Messi in terms of Ballon d’Or awards.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s Lewandowski has proven that he has soared to another level this year. After scoring his 34th goal of the season against Wolfsburg, the Polish striker secured the Bundesliga’s Golden Boot for the third consecutive year. He has also been Bundesliga’s top scorer for the fifth time.