If you had to give the list of the top 10 for the ballon d'or tomorrow what would it be?

(I ask this because I feel like a lot of players have performed well last season and i find it difficult to give an order).

My order would be this:

Modric
Salah
Cristiano
Messi
Mbappe
Griezmann
Hazard
Varane
Neymar
De Bruyne

Players left out: Mane, Kante, Coutinho, Agüero, Kane, Courtois, Lewa, Ramos, The lord :) …

Also, Neymar is that low because he was injured for a while. So he did less than others because of that.

Thats a good list, I personally agree with it.

Putting Salah ahead of Messi makes me feel like people are just getting into hype train without even trying to understand football..

Can't believe people are putting Salah ahead of Messi. What a joke.

Well Salah went to the final of CL and was playing pretty well in it, he also broke the record of most goals in an EPL season which is no easy task at all. And they finished second.

For me Messi is the best player ever (some might not agree, its ok :) ), so dont get me wrong. But what he achieved this year i fell that its a little less than what Salah showed.

Now I understand if you put Messi ahead of Salah but to say that its a joke is just being blind my friend :). Please reconsider. Its not a life time achievement trophy, its a yearly trophy.

@quikzyyy @ramaboy Guys, Messi is better than Salah and we all know that but fact is, Salah was top scorer in PL and reached the CL final. The situation kinda goes in Salah favor.

@Marshall Agreed. Welcome to FR by the way. ;)

Messi scored more goals than Salah. Won more trophies. Was arguably more important to his team.

Ofc I have a natural bias against Liverpool, but I think it's than Messi being good is taken so much for granted that when someone even comes close to his productivity that isn't Ronaldo everyone loses their minds.

If you measure by trophies

• Messi - La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa, 3

• Salah - 0

If you measure by goals

• Messi - 45

• Salah - 44

If you measure by assists

• Messi - 18

• Salah - 16

If you measure by chances created

• Messi - 94

• Salah - 89

If you measure by successful take-ons:

• Messi - 157

• Salah - 75

If you measure by key passes

• Messi - 80

• Salah - 69

Some individual stats

• Messi - in La Liga: player with the most goals, goals outside of box, direct free-kicks, assists, chances created, passes in opp. half, dribbles, through balls, touches in opp. box

• Salah - in EPL: player with the most goals

If you say it takes into account the influence a player has in a team, Messi clearly wins it there as well. I'm not taking anything from Salah, he had an amazing season but Messi tops im in everything.

Agree with quikzy and sunflash. The stats speak for itself. Salah is nowhere near as good as Messi last season. I think he's starting to lose his form this season. No offense but I think he's one of those one season wonder

Ok so lets go point by point here because im tired of these football "experts" who are biased:

Claim n1: Messi scored more goals than Salah
If you look at whoscored(.)com you can see that in the last season and beginning of this season they scored the same amount of goal for club so far. If you ad to this the cup goals, Messi has 1 more goal than Salah but Messi also played 2 more total games and score 3 penalties whereas Salah scored only 1.
As for assistes Messi has 1 more.
I would like to point out that for me stats are important but are not everything.

Claim n2: Won more trophies
Yes so? Varane won more trophies than Messi. Benjamin Mendy has an EPL AND a World cup trophy, where is he? Kimpembe has 3 french trophies AND a world cup. See my point?
Have you also forgotten that Messi won the ballon over likes of Iniesta or Ribery that had won more important trophies those respective years?

Claim n3: Was arguably more important to his team
Here you even say it yourself "arguably". ANd I could very well make a point that no but lets leave it like this.

As for the world cup, Argentina is not Egypt, and Salah just came back from injurie so yes Messi played better there for 4 games ill give you that.

Conclusion:
If my 2 first points are understood, and Salah or Messi could be "arguably" more important to their team then we can "arguably" say than putting Salah over Messi OR Messi over Salah are two defendable points and non should be seen as a "joke". I PERSONALY give the edge THIS YEAR to Salah because I believe he achieved all this in a more difficult competition (the CL) and in a more contested and hard to score ligue (the EPL)

So there you have it.

@NovaRuk "No offense but I think he's one of those one season wonder"

Again, I'm talking about best of the season and not a life time achievement award....

And I dont think he's a one season wonder... But for this question only time will tell :)

score 3 penalties whereas Salah scored only 1.

penalties are not counting nowadays? how many penalties did Messi donated to someone else?

I would like to point out that for me stats are important but are not everything.

so in what terms is Salah better? I don't see it.

Here you even say it yourself "arguably"

I didn't, and it's not even arguably. Messi changed the game so many times just by his ability of creating chances, I don't see this ability in Salah. He gets the chance and scores it, while Messi can do this he is also creating so much for his teammates.

because I believe he achieved all this in a more difficult competition (the CL) and in a more contested and hard to score ligue (the EPL)

Well, except he didn't win that UCL. Everyone is saying how La Liga is easy to score. It's only been a league where the top scorer has about 40 goals since Messi & Ronaldo arrived. The last time someone got close to 40 pre-Messi was Hugo Sanchez with 38 in 89/90 and Ronaldo was the first in La Liga history to hit 40 in 10/11.

Can you imagine Liverpool without Salah? I think everyone can.
However can you imagine Barcelona without Messi atm? I doubt that.

@quikzyyy @Marshall Both of you guys make good point, keep up the debate, I love it! ;D

"hard to score in premier league", puts neymar ahead of harry kane lol.

sorry lol, I like neymar's playing style but I don't think you can put him in the list. there are others like aguero and mane are ahead of neymar in terms of pecking order for last season.

@baldgenius Not a bad point, beside, Neymar was injured nearly all the second half of last season so I don't understand people who don't put them in their list.

I think injuries means less chance of getting into the nominees. if all injuries are taken into account, robben and ribery can still make a case for themselves lol.

Since CL is the most watched cup in the world. they only give it to the winning team. This season Messi dominated Liga with impressive display, remember Suarez was off form, Coutinho not able to play, Iniesta on the end, Dembele injured. Messi went to qualify his team in Ecuador in a Stadium 3500 meter high than level of see, with a hattrick. in That week we conceded the only defeat of the season costing us CL vs Roma. International break prevented him from treble who was loading. He dominated Clasicos, dominated Atleticos home and away scoring each, scored vs sevilla and Valencia dominating them. I watch him every single game, he was a monster this year.
BUT he didnt won CL with the surrounding hype over it.

for the stats : He and Salah were the best but to add on what quikzee listed, he is the best scorer and the best assister in whole Europe, best chance creator best dribbler, most FK scored, best Opta mark, Best whoscored Mark, most MOTM on a season in whole Europe...

But its not really an individual award, eaither way he would be winning it each season. Others could only compare to him with stats in one part of the game. im not surprised if he does not make it into top 3. it has been a while that its working like this.

Credit ESPN.

I never want to get into the debate this year. As any one see since all the award came out i have been silent.

But okay, can't hold it anymore, then I see you guys have thrown some amazing argument here. I would also want to add my thought:

• Messi is not in the top 3 of UEFA is almost a crime.
• Like so many other players have said: this top 3 proves that consistent in a long run DOES NOT MEAN ape shiet, compare to a handful of glory cup matches.
• Collectively, this seems like a team award dedicate to a player.

• Messi is lightly better than Salah in this discussion, (FIFA)

• Ronaldo is VERY VERY lucky he was on form at the crucial moment. BIG bravo to him and he earned it. Fortunately, he has his team to step up in the difficult time, Messi and Salah didn't. He had an extreme crap beginning of the season, and when the whole team got better, he at the same time helped to get better. win win.
• Modric is the most deserving one to me.

Now since we are discussin about Messi, let keep in mind that he had last season probably the WORST Barca since Pyuol left. Xavi left, Suarez disappeared, Busquet off form, Dembele injured, NEYMAR left... Pique being crap.... he carried the team to almost unbeatean.

If anyone watch Barca's more than 2 games then they would totally understand.

Internationally, the 3 were both crap, Can't blame them, their teams were just terrible

PS: KVB, and Pep are not remotely close to the top is also a big question for me.

I'll keep it simple because i'm getting tired of the discussion.

• Stats is something but not all, otherwise the trophy would always go to a forward/winger (which has been the case lately for sure).
• Obviously we dont all agree with what should be taken into account when evaluating who deserves this trophy.
• Saying that Salah had a potentially better year than Messi is an opinion shared by many experts, players, journalists, etc... (the contrary is true also)

I'm just leaving it a that. Both are fantastic players, Messi obviously being one of the greatest (if not the greatest) of all times and Salah having an incredible year.

This Topic is not about Salah vs Messi (interesting arguments though) but about top 10. So having said that, anybody cares to give their top 10 :) ?