Spanish press reports sparked a huge surprise regarding the presence of 5 players nominated for the Ballon d’Or award for this year 2023-2024, whose title is borne by Argentine star Lionel Messi.
Many nominations expect one of the Real Madrid players to receive the award this season after the royal team is close to winning the League and is waiting to reach the Champions League final, where it will face Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
The “sportsbrief” website revealed that there are 5 players nominated for the Ballon d’Or this year: “Brazilian Vinicius Junior, Phil Foden, Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, and Harry Kane.”
The site added that Manchester City’s exit from the Champions League following its loss to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals led to a decline in the chances of Phil Foden, who was able to compensate for the absence of Kevin De Bruyne during crucial parts of the season, and also scored 14 goals while providing 7 assists.
The website added that Jude Bellingham tops the list of candidates to win the award this season, due to his amazing performance with Real Madrid, where he played 35 matches across various competitions, during which he scored 20 goals and provided 12 assists.
The website indicated that Frenchman Kylian Mbappe has a chance of winning the Ballon d’Or, as he played a decisive role in his team’s qualification to the semi-finals of the Champions League, by scoring two goals against Barcelona during the second leg of the quarter-finals in the confrontation that ended in favor of the Parisians 4-1.
When Ancelotti was asked in today’s press conference about the player who deserves to win the award between Bellingham and Vinicius, he replied: “I will give it to both.”