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Seven League players nominated for a Ballon d’Or without Messi

The trophy accrediting the winner of the Ballon d’Or. / Thomas Samson (Afp)

The absence of the Argentine striker is the big surprise in the list of candidates for an award for Benzema

Oscar Bellot

Despite the fact that the economic difficulties of the Spanish clubs, as opposed to the financial muscle of the Premier League, have put the League in check, the Spanish championship continues to enjoy good health, according to the nominations for the Ballon d’Or that it will deliver the magazine ‘France Football’ on October 17. Seven of the thirty candidates revealed this Friday militate in teams that dispute the tournament that kicked off with the Osasuna-Sevilla dispute. Courtois, Vinicius, Lewandowski, Casemiro, Modric and Rüdiger accompany the great favorite, Benzema, in a list in which the main news is the absence of Messi. For the first time since 2006, the attacker from Rosario, absolute dominator of the trophy with seven conquests, the last of them last year, was left out of the cut.

The conquest of the Champions League by Real Madrid makes its weight felt with the presence of six footballers among the thirty finalists for the most coveted individual recognition in the football firmament. Barça, on the other hand, only has the trick of Lewandowski, the new Barça flagship whose 50 goals he scored last season with Bayern have once again placed him as a candidate for the seventh time in his career.

In addition to that of Messi, the absence of Neymar stands out, also weighed down by the debacle of PSG in the last edition of the Champions League, and the predominance of the Premier League, where fifteen of the thirty nominees for the Golden Ball stand out and some more, case of Sadio Mané, who despite having recently left the English championship is a finalist for the merits contracted in football on the islands.

Putellas and Bonmatí fight for the women’s Ballon d’Or

Two Spaniards will fight this year for the women’s Ballon d’Or. Alexia Putellas, winner of the trophy last year and who is currently facing a long recovery process after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee on the eve of the European Championship that was played last July, will have among her rivals the time to revalidate the award to his teammate at Barça Aitana Bonmatí, who has just completed a great season in which she was essential both with her team and with the Spanish team. But both will have a high competition, since among the rest of the nominees there are figures of the caliber of the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg, the French Wendie Renard or the European champions with England Beth Mead, Millie Bright and Lucy Bronze. The latter, together with Putellas, Bonmatí, the Swedish Fridolina Rolfö and the Nigerian Asisat Oshoala, completes the list of candidates that Barça has.

Spanish football is also wonderfully represented among the candidates for the other prizes awarded by the magazine ‘France Football’. Gavi and Camavinga appear among the main favorites to win the Kopa Trophy, which recognizes the best footballer under 21 years of age. The Seville midfielder for Barça and the French midfielder for Real Madrid will have among their great opponents the Englishman Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), the Dutchman Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich), as well as the Germans Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen) and Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich).

Regarding the Yashin Trophy, the favoritism corresponds to the Belgian Thibaut Courtois, League and European champion with Real Madrid, who is among the ten finalists along with two other goalkeepers who shine in the Spanish championship: the Slovenian Jan Oblak (Atlético) and the Moroccan Yassine Bono (Seville). The absence of the last winner stands out, the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma, penalized by PSG’s debacle in the Champions League and the competition of Keylor Navas that prevented him from establishing himself in the goal of the Parisian team during the last season.

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