Ballon D’or: Messi, Ronaldo Not in Top Three

The current Ballon D’Or standings have been revealed by journalist Eric Mamruth, and there are a few surprises in store for Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi fans.

Both Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the competition over the last decade, with both winning the award 5 times since 2008, however it finally seems like times are changing at the top of world football.

Mamruth, in his report for RFI, the top three players with the most votes in the running for this year’s Ballon D’Or are Luka Modric, Raphael Varane and Kylian Mbappe.

Modric and Mbappe’s names being so high up won’t really surprise anyone, as both players had fantastic campaigns for their respective club sides last season, as well as impressing massively at the World Cup in Russia this summer.

However, the one surprising name in the top three is Raphael Varane. Although he did play a huge part in both France and Real Madrid’s World Cup and Champions League triumphs respectively, it seems somewhat strange for a defender to be so high up.

Both Messi and Ronaldo scored more than 40 goals last season in all competitions, and to see neither of them in the top three at this point is very surprising, even given the fact that the duo didn’t have stellar World Cup campaigns this summer.

There’s still a long way to go in the voting process, however if this is anything to go by, it seems like we will have a new winner of the award for the first time since Ronaldo won it back in 2008…