A very atypical 2021 Ballon d’Or: neither Messi nor CR7 are favorites

In 2020, football lovers could not enjoy the Ballon d'Or award, just when it seemed that, for the second time in the last three years, the winner would not be Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, members of the duopoly that dominated this award between 2008 and 2017 consecutively.

Robert Lewandowski, top scorer in the 2019-20 Champions League and the main figure of the German team, had everything in his favor to win the annual prize against a Messi and a CR7 eliminated in the quarterfinals and eighth-finals respectively, and neither being the scorers of their leagues (19-20), but the Covid19 pandemic prevented the Polish attacker from taking his first prize.

Even Messi, putting aside the issue of the national teams, would have a better chance than the Portuguese, as Barcelona has a high chance of winning the league title, while Juve will see its reign fall in Italy as it is very far from the leader Inter. Of course, at the time of writing this article, the Rosario led the gunners in Spain with 23 and the Portuguese to those of Italy with 25.

The Bayern Munich forward already swept last season and had been a goal scoring machine until a knee injury playing for Poland stopped him. His absence could not be supplanted by the "Bavarians", who missed him in the tie in which PSG was eliminated.

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Its advantage lies in the fact that, domestically, Bayern has no competition and always wins titles, although it will no longer be the Champions League, and in the specific case of Lewandowski, it can also help itself with what it can achieve with the Polish national team. in the Euro.

Mbappé and Haland

With young and talented players like Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland lurking, and with the Argentine and Portuguese in the final stretch of their careers plus their clubs spending low hours in Europe, it seems that we are approaching a change of cycle in football. international, although of course, if one of the two kings of football manages to be crowned with their teams in the upcoming Copa América and Eurocopa respectively, their chances of winning the award would grow.

The young French striker is a bookmaker's favorite. Today he is one of the most coveted forwards on the planet and his display at the Camp Nou in the round of 16 with a hat trick against Barcelona and then his double at the Allianz Arena against Bayern in the quarterfinals, have given him a very nice image.

However, the possibility of being the Ballon d'Or will depend on whether PSG can be crowned in the Champions League, a tournament of which it is not the main striker, and on whether it can maintain the top scorers in Ligue 1. It will also depend on how good is his performance with the national team and the results of France in the European Championship.

Haaland raised his price a lot during the Champions League, but Dortmund's slim chances of a title in the league, plus his elimination in the Champions League (he was the top scorer at the time of being discarded) and the little potential of his team seem to separate him from the fight, except for some miracle.

And Neymar?

In the case of the Amazonian star, his possibility of winning the award in 2021 is more due to the weight he may have in obtaining titles for PSG (Champions and Ligue 1) and the Brazilian National Team in the upcoming Copa América than the number of goals.

International football has been waiting for several years for "The Heir", but perhaps never before was it as close as in 2021 to being the Ballon d'Or. It seems to have finally matured and shares the leadership within the Parisians with Mbappé very well.

Another name that appears in the arena is that of Belgian Kevin De Bruyne. If Manchester City achieves the 'double' with the League and the Champions League, players like De Bruyne or Raheem Sterling would be considered to take the prize.

What do the bets say?

The newspaper Marca of Spain revealed, according to some bookmakers, that the French Kylian Mbappé is today the main favorite to win the award with a 3.5 per euro bet , while Lewandowski escorts him with 6.5, the order continues with Cristiano ( 7), Neymar (11), De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes (11).

In second order, appear Erling Haaland (13), Messi (15), Harry Kane (26) and Suárez (26). Last March a classification of the Golden Boot 2021 was updated in which Lewandowski led with 70 points because before his injury he had the highest number of goals in the elite leagues: 35.

In this table who appears second is Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi is third, André Silva is fourth, Haaland fifth, the unknown Kasper Junker was sixth, Mbappé seventh, Romelu Lukaku is eighth, Harry Kane is ninth and the Uruguayan Luis Suárez closed the picture. , according to a publication by El Desmarque.