The Ballon d’Or award is regarded as the pinnacle in the career of any footballer. It is no surprise that every top player wants to win the prize at some stage in their career. Some of the top names at Manchester United are no exception. Despite having won numerous honours in club football, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has never won this title and the 35-year-old is in a race against time. His United teammate Paul Pogba, 23, still has a lot of time to win the coveted award.
The Ballon d’Or is given to the player widely perceived to have been the best over the calendar year. Defenders have rarely won the award, which is dominated by forwards and midfielders. While personal statistics plays a crucial role in deciding the chances of a victory, the success achieved along with the team has an even bigger part to play. After having won the Champions League with Real Madrid and Euro 2016 with Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo was an overwhelming favourite to win the award. It indeed proved to be the case, as the former Manchester United star won the award for the fourth time in his career.
Pogba has finished 14th in the rankings while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is slightly ahead in the 13th place. They are the highest ranked Manchester United players in the Ballon d’Or awards for 2016.
Ballon d’Or top 17 2016
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Lionel Messi
3. Antoine Griezmann
4. Luis Suarez
5. Neymar
6. Gareth Bale
7. Riyad Mahrez
8. Jamie Vardy
9= Pepe
9= Gianluigi Buffon
11. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
12. Rui Particio
13. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
14= Paul Pobga
14= Arturo Vidal
16. Robert Lewandowski
17= Dimitri Payet
17= Toni Kroos
17= Luka Modric
Paul Pogba has spoken about winning the Ballon d’Or award on numerous occasions. His chances of winning the title has split the opinion of many. Even though he has been a major factor in Juventus winning the league title for consecutive seasons during his stay at Turin and reaching the final of the Champions League, many feel that Pogba may lose out to the competition from forwards because of his inability to score as many goals. The Frenchman has largely been a box to box midfielder, although Mourinho is clearly attempting to make Pogba’s presence felt further up the field.
Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, has been one of the greatest goal scorers European football has seen in the last decade. He has been able to prove his ability not just at one club and in one league, but in four different countries while playing for numerous top outfits like Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester United, and Paris St Germain. He remains as probably one of the greatest players not to have won the Ballon d’Or award and the Champions League. The lack of success in the latter has been seen as a major factor in Ibrahimovic’s inability to challenge for the Ballon d’Or award.
Yet, he would certainly be pleased with 13th place considering that he is almost at the end of his career at 35.
Lionel Messi came second followed by Atletico Madrid forward and Manchester United target Antoine Griezmann.
