Ballon d’Or 2018: Luka Modric a worthy winner, but Lionel Messi has been better this year

There was no room in the top four for Messi on Monday night.
AFP/Getty Images
Ben Hayward3 December 2018

Congratulations to Luka Modric! As expected, the Real Madrid midfielder claimed the Ballon d’Or in a ceremony in Paris on Monday night and the award caps a remarkable 2018 for the Croatia captain.

Modric helped his club to a third successive Champions League crown in May and led his nation to the World Cup final in Russia in the summer, picking up the Golden Ball for the tournament’s finest footballer along the way.

The 33-year-old then beat former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo to FIFA’s The Best prize in September and on Monday, he ended 10 years of dominance by the Portuguese and Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or.

Flanked by his wife and three children in Paris, it was a night he will never forget. "It’s a unique feeling. I’m happy, proud and honoured,” he said. “The Ballon d’Or is more than a dream for me and it’s really an honour and a privilege to hold this trophy."

Modric first Croatian to win award.
AFP/Getty Images

It is an honour and a privilege no player other than Messi or Ronaldo has had since 2007, when Kaka claimed the award ahead of the Argentine and the Portuguese.

This time, Ronaldo finished second, with World Cup winners Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe third and fourth, respectively. And Messi, unbelievably, was back in fifth.

The results had been similar in The Best, with Modric first, Ronaldo second and Messi fifth again. But it is that a real reflection of what we saw on the pitch in 2018? Was the Croatian really better than Leo and Cristiano?

The finest footballer, no doubt, was Messi. The Argentine was extraordinary for Barcelona as Ernesto Valverde’s side won La Liga and also the Copa del Rey last season, his brilliance continuing into the current campaign.

No player has scored more than the Argentine this year, while he ended the 2017-18 season with more goals, assists, key passes, chances created, successful dribbles and free-kicks converted than anyone else.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, came good in the second half of the campaign to help Real Madrid claim the Champions League, albeit failing to net beyond the quarter-finals of the continental competition. And since moving to Juventus, he has carried on scoring.

The problem for Messi was an indifferent World Cup in a chaotic Argentina team, along with a disappointing Champions League campaign for Barca. But do the 180 voting journalists watch La Liga? His low position would suggest that most of them do not.

Ronaldo scored a hat-trick for Portugal against Spain in Russia, but added just one goal after that at the World Cup and like Messi, was knocked out in the last 16. He had won the Champions League, but it was not his best season at Real. And he left.

Messi finished fifth despite a Spanish double.
AFP/Getty Images

Leaving Madrid means foregoing significant support at an institutional level. The club’s media machine is powerful and influential; and instead of the Portuguese lifting the trophy, it is a former team-mate of his who has benefited from that help from fans and the positive public relations on hand at Real.

There was also a sense this year that it had been decided that there was time for a change. Messi and Ronaldo have been winning these individual awards for so long now that there was a feeling almost of apathy. It was, many seemed to think, time for something different and, in a World Cup year, the opportunity was there to vote for others.

Had they not won the award for the past 10 years, Messi or Ronaldo may well have been lifting this latest Ballon d’Or instead of Modric.

The Croatian is a worthy winner and his triumph is fair and square, refreshing even as a midfielder is chosen instead of a 50-goal-a-season forward. But awarding him with this trophy – over Messi in particular – further blurs the lines of criteria and credibility in these individual prizes.

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