Liverpool, Man City dominate 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist

Liverpool duo Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk as well as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi are among the 30 players nominated for this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Luka Modric’s Champions League triumph with Real Madrid and run to the World Cup final with Croatia led to him being the current holder of the award, which is organised and handed out by French magazine France Football.

The winner of the 2019 Ballon d’Or will be announced in Paris on December 2 with all 30 players in contention for the gong now announced.

Among them are seven Reds stars, with Mane and Van Dijk joined by Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have five players on the shortlist, including Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, while Son Heung-min and Hugo Lloris are the only two Tottenham players, with Harry Kane missing out.

 

As for the sides around Europe, Juventus pair Matthijs de Ligt and Cristiano Ronaldo feature while Barcelona have Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

See below for the full list of nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or:

Sadio Mane, Sergio Aguero, Frenkie de Jong, Hugo Lloris, Dusan Tadic

Kylian Mbappe, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Donny van de Beek, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen

Cristiano Ronaldo, Alisson, Matthijs de Ligt, Karim Benzema, Georginio Wijnaldum

Virgil van Dijk, Bernardo Silva, Son Heung-min, Robert Lewandowski, Roberto Firmino

Lionel Messi, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Kalidou Koulibaly, Antoine Griezmann

Mohamed Salah, Eden Hazard, Marquinhos, Raheem Sterling, Joao Felix