Ballon d’Or 2019: Full Golden Ball Rankings as Lionel Messi Scoops Award

Lionel Messi has only gone and won his sixth Ballon d’Or, the most of any player in the history of football.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to claim the Argentine is not the greatest footballer of all time, with his phenomenal stats in 2019 proving his is worthy of this year’s Golden Ball. In 54 appearances for club and country, the little magician has scored 46 goals and grabbed 17 assists, despite struggling with injuries.

Those figures mean Messi beats Liverpool superstar Virgil van Dijk to the big prize, while Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo has lost another battle with his foe, the Portuguese coming third in the rankings.

Van Dijk is joined by several Reds teammates towards the top of the list, as Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Alisson all make the top seven.

Manchester City duo Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez finished ninth and tenth, respectively, with fellow Sky Blues representatives Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne also featuring.

The later pair sandwich either Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard, while other places in the top 20 were claimed by Matthijs de Ligt, Sergio Aguero, Roberto Firmino, Antoine Griezmann, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who shared the Premier League Golden Boot with 22 goals.

Incredibly, Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris features above Barcelona stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, while 2019 Golden Boot winner Joao Felix, now playing for Atletico Madrid, ties in 28th place with Marquinhos and Donny van de Beek.

We’ll be updating with results as they come – so hang with us!

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