Karim Benzema has gained the lads’s Ballon d’Or, turning into simply the second participant exterior of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to be awarded the prize previously 15 years. Benzema gained the trophy after main Real Madrid to the LaLiga and Champions League double final season and scoring a outstanding 44 objectives in 46 appearances for the Spanish membership.
Benzema completed forward of Sadio Mane and Kevin De Bruyne on the Paris ceremony to crown a sensational 12 months for the France worldwide, as he adopted his Real Madrid team-mate Luka Modric by breaking by means of Messi and Ronaldo’s dominance of soccer’s biggest particular person prize.
The 34-year-old can be the oldest winner of the Ballon d’Or since Stanley Matthews gained the inaugural award in 1956, in addition to the primary French winner of the prize since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Zidane, who managed Benzema throughout two spells at Real Madrid, was in Paris to current the striker with the award.
“This prize in front of me makes me proud of the work I did from a young age,” Benzema mentioned. “I had the motivation and I always had this dream in my mind that anything was possible. There were difficult periods where I wasn’t in the French team but I kept working hard. I’m really proud of my journey here. It wasn’t easy, it was difficult and it was hard for my family as well. But to be here today, I’m just really happy.”
Earlier, Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas grew to become the primary two-time winner of the Ballon d’Or Feminin after taking back-to-back awards. England and Arsenal ahead Beth Mead, who was the highest scorer at Euro 2020, completed second, forward of the Chelsea striker Sam Kerr.
Barcelona midfielder Gavi gained the Kopa Trophy for finest younger participant whereas Thibaut Courtois gained the Yashin Trophy for finest goalkeeper, as Manchester City obtained the award for membership of the 12 months.
Putellas was dominated out of the Euro 2020 finals this summer season on account of harm and though her Barcelona crew had been defeated within the closing of the Women’s Champions League by Lyon, the midfielder’s performances for the Spanish champions remained a stage above the sport throughout her facet’s run to the ultimate. Putellas continues to be sidelined by a severe knee harm however declared that she hoped to return forward of subsequent summer season’s Women’s World Cup.
Benzema’s shows and objectives within the Champions League knockout levels, the place he scored 10 objectives in seven appearances from the spherical of 16 onwards, had been additionally complimented by dramatic winners within the comeback victories over Chelsea and Manchester City on the way in which to defeating Liverpool within the Paris closing.
It additionally got here because the striker additionally seized the stage for the primary time in his profession, after years of supporting Cristiano Ronaldo in assault throughout Real Madrid’s earlier Champions League profitable campaigns. “He keeps getting better with age,” Ancelotti mentioned of his captain, as he claimed the person prize that for big components of his profession had been troublesome to think about.
Ballon d’Or: Men’s rankings
1st: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
2nd: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
third: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
4th: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
fifth: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
sixth: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
seventh: Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
eighth: Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)
ninth: Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
tenth: Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
eleventh: Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)
twelfth: Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
thirteenth: Sébastien Haller (Ajax)
=14th: Fabinho (Liverpool)
=14th: Rafael Leão (Milan)
sixteenth: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
= seventeenth: Casemiro (Real Madrid)
= seventeenth: Dušan Vlahović (Fiorentina, Juventus)
= seventeenth: Luis Díaz (Porto, Liverpool)
twentieth: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Manchester United)
twenty first: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
= twenty second: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
= twenty second: Phil Foden (Manchester City)
= twenty second: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
= twenty fifth: Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
= twenty fifth: Mike Maignan (Milan)
= twenty fifth: Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea)
= twenty fifth: João Cancelo (Manchester City)
= twenty fifth: Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
= twenty fifth: Darwin Núñez (Benfica)
Ballon d’Or: Women’s rankings
1st: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
2nd: Beth Mead (Arsenal)
third: Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
4th: Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
fifth: Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)
sixth: Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)
seventh: Ada Hegerberg (Lyon)
eighth: Wendie Renard (Lyon)
ninth: Catarina Macario (Lyon)
tenth: Lucy Bronze (Manchester City)
Source: www.impartial.co.uk