Ballon d’Or 2019 Preview
Who has been the best player in 2019? In the world? That is what the Ballon d’Or, which is run by France Football and not FIFA anymore, will decide. Who has been the one stand out performer that deserves the crown of being the world’s best, at least for that calendar year?
If you are guided by the bookmakers then there is only one man who is going to get that title. That is Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk who is the 1/4 odds on favourite* (betting odds taken from William Hill on September 18th, 2019 at 6:56 pm)
Ballon d’Or 2019 Outright Winner Odds*
| Player |  |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virgil Van Dijk | 1/5 | 1/4 | 1/4 |
| Lionel Messi | 10/3 | 9/4 | 10/3 |
| Alisson Becker | 50/1 | – | 50/1 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 33/1 | 16/1 | 33/1 |
(Betting Odds were taken from Betfair, William Hill and Paddy Power on September 18, 2019 at 9:18 pm)
Table of Contents
Virgil van Dijk – Will Liverpool defender take the title?
It was quite the year for Virgil van Dijk. Liverpool’s Dutch defender won both the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award, the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season, plus the UEFA Defender of the season and the accolades go on. Ballon d’Or winners are often defined by the trophies that they collect in the calendar year.
In 2018 for example it was Croatia’s Luka Modric who was crowned Ballon d’Or winner, but that wouldn’t have happened if it had been a World Cup year. Modric inspired his country to the Final of the World Cup (where they lost to France) but on top of that and winning the Champions League for the fourth time in his career with Real Madrid, the award pretty much had to go to him.
European success key for VVD’s chances?
While Van Dijk couldn’t help Liverpool get the better of Manchester City in the Premier League title race, despite improving the defence of the Reds by a million-plus per cent, he was pivotal in them going that extra step and winning the Champions League title.
Van Dijk is pretty much the defender with everything, from anticipation, speed and vision with the ball at his feet like any true Dutch master. It is hard to see anyone taking the Ballon d’Or trophy away from him for 2019. The bookies think that it’s a done deal at 1/4 odds-on* (betting odds taken from William Hill on September 18th, 2019 at 9:05 pm). Especially with all of the individual awards that he has already picked up.
But, you never know.
Lionel Messi – Can Messi up set the odds?
Thankfully 2019 saw Lionel Messi get back to his very best. He was astounding from the turn of the new year. He scored 21 goals in 19 La Liga games to close out the season with and help Barcelona claim another league title in Spain. In total, he finished the season with 36 league goals form 34 games, his second-best striker rate in the last four seasons.
He’s not finished yet and he is a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or. After an injury-hit 2018, he wasn’t even in the top three in Ballon d’Or voting last year, but how he would love a sixth crown to move him one past Cristiano Ronaldo. 2019 saw Messi miss out on the top three in the Ballon d’Or for the first time in 12 years.
But he didn’t have the big trophy win that Van Dijk had in 2019. Barcelona’s Champions League campaign was ended by Liverpool in that stunning semi-final match up. So will his La Liga title be enough to trump Van Dijk’s European crown? The case for Messi is his phenomenal output in goals and assists.
Across the course of last season, Messi scored 51 goals and created 22 assists in all competitions. He was the top scorer in the Champions League and in the European big five leagues. He can’t totally be counted out. You are looking at 9/4 odds on Messi getting the award* (betting odds taken from William Hill on September 18th, 2019 at 9:05 pm)
Alisson Becker – Reds shot-stopper to catch the prize?
It can be argued that Liverpool’s defensive improvement last season was down to goalkeeper Alisson Becker in combination with Van Dijk. There’s a case for that. The Brazilian shot-stopper was immense. He took a total of 21 clean sheets in his 38 Premier League appearances last season. He helped produce a record-breaking 20 consecutive clean sheets in the top flight that Liverpool strung together as well.
Along with six clean sheets in Liverpool’s successful Champions League campaign and he helped Brazil won the Copa America. So it has been some year from the Brazilian. Last season (although only 2019 performances count for the Ballon d’Or) from 55 games for club and country, Becker took 32 clean sheets. History is well against him though. There has only been one goalkeeper win the Ballon d’Or, Lev Yashin back in the 1960s.
Cristiano Ronaldo – Can underdog Ronaldo rise to the top?
No surprise that Ronaldo himself fully believes that he deserves to win the 2019 Ballon d’Or. Is there a case for him to do so? Maybe. Like his old mucker Lionel Messi, Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or five times. That’s not enough for him, he wants a few more to separate himself from Messi.
With no Champions league title for Juventus though and only the Serie A and Italian Super Coppa on the domestic front, it looks like a stretch to see it go to him. But, he was key for his country again as he helped Portugal win the inaugural Nations League this year.
Predictions
It should be Van Dijk. It probably will be Van Dijk who wins the 2019 Ballon d’Or. The only one that is likely to be him would be Messi, however, the brilliance of the Argentinean isn’t likely to take the shine off the accomplishments of the Liverpool defender in 2019.
