This season’s Champions League Final is over. The result, Liverpool came out as champions after defeating their rivals in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspurs.
In the match that was held at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid, Saturday (1/6/2019), Juergen Klopp’s squad won two goals without retaliation. Thanks to this result, the Reds, Liverpool’s nickname has won the “Big Ear” six times throughout the history of the club.
The completion of the Champions League also means the closing competitions in Europe, both domestic and European club leagues. As in the last ten years, players who have been able to bring their teams to win in the Champions League or in their respective domestic leagues have a big chance of winning the title of the world’s best player or the Ballon d’Or.
After Liverpool were able to win the Champions League, some of their players entered the individual award-winning candidates.
Here are three footballers who are predicted to win the 2019 Ballon d’Or title:
1.Virgil Van Dijk
Virgil Van Dijk is the strongest candidate to win the Ballon d’Or title this season after successfully bringing Liverpool to the 2019 Champions League. Although in the Premier League, he can only bring the Reds in second place, one point ahead of Manchester City champions. With the presence of the Dutch national team defender, this season Liverpool became the least conceded team in the Premier League (22 goals).
As reported by Fox Sports, he and Lionel Messi became the strongest candidates to win the Ballon d’Or title. Moreover, Van Dijk can still add to his trophy list this season if he manages to bring the Netherlands to win the 2019 UEFA Nations League.
2. Lionel Messi
With Barcelona this season, Lionel Messi only presented the La Liga trophy. Even so, his mark as a Golden Boot winner – Europe’s top league league score – three consecutive times can be an exception (2016, 2017, 2018). Messi won the Golden Boot this season after scoring 36 in La Liga. The record cannot be surpassed by Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe, who collected 33 goals in Ligue 1.
The feasibility of Messi as the Ballon d’Or winner this season was strengthened by the idea of The Independent journalist Miguel Delaney. “I think Messi is the best player in the world. He should have won the Ballon d’Or. It doesn’t matter whether he is in the final (Champions League) or not,” Miguel wrote in his social media account.
3. Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah did not miss the list of candidates for this season’s Ballon d’Or winner, after one goal against Tottenham Hotspurs managed to bring Liverpool to win the Champions League 2018-2019. Not only that, the Egyptian national team player became Liverpool’s top scorer this season with 27 goals scored.
Mourinho’s comments increasingly emphasized that Mo Salah was able to win the 2019 Ballon d’Or title. As reported by Sportskeeda, the former Chelsea coach said that the failure of Juventus and Barcelona in the Champions League make both failed to win the Ballon d’Or trophy.
-RDS-
