Last Saturday, while Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund were fighting for the Champions League, there were three players for whom the game It was especially worth its weight in gold. It’s not that for the rest of the players it wasn’t the most important day of the year, that too, but it’s that they were risking, in addition to the most prestigious trophy in club football, the possibility of staying alive in the fight for another of the awards. most coveted by any player, in this case individual: The gold ball.
Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Toni Kroos, not necessarily in that order. Three of the great candidates for the award, perhaps the biggest favorites at this point, play in white. And the other, Kylian Mbappéhas just arrived at the Santiago Bernabéu, which could turn the gala that will be held at the end of the year in Paris into a party monopolized by Real Madrid fans.
At this point, there is no doubt that the great candidate is Vinicius Junior. His season, especially so far in 2024, is being of a spectacular level. His great endorsement, having always appeared on the big nights. In the Wembley final got wet, marking the final 2-0. And in the semi-final he shone so much in the first leg in Munich, where he sustained his team with a double when the Bayern He pressed harder, like in the return leg, where he was once again Madrid’s most incisive player.
He also put his signature with a goal and a tie in the epic quarterfinal tie against City. Total, 24 points and 11 assists for a player whom Carlo Ancelotti has managed to isolate from the noise around him, creating an ecosystem in which he is the spearhead of the team and the unbalancing factor. “For me, Viní is the best in the world. Create magic from nothing. He has everything to be the best,” Bellingham responded when asked about the shortlist of candidates for the award.
English is another of the great candidates, encouraged at 20 years old for a first year at Madrid in which he has shone even above the expectations placed on him after the disbursement of more than 100 million. Almost unanimously recognized as the most important name in winning the 36th White League, a tournament in which he has fought until the end to finish as top scorer as a midfielder. He finished the domestic championship with 19 goals, five behind top scorer Dovbyk, in addition to four other goals in the Champions League. Besides, He distributed 13 assists between both competitionsbeing during the first part of the year the great reference in attack of the white club.
Kroos, the possible award for a career
Both were, until very recently, the two big names on the table. But in recent times, and boosted by the announcement of his retirement after the Euro Cup, there is a third candidacy that has grown in the white club. It was Vinicius, in fact, who publicly named him as his number one before the Wembley final. “I sign on to win the final and the Copa América, and the Ballon d’Or for Toni (Kroos) because it is his last season,” said the Brazilian, presenting the candidacy of a man who has never seemed to care much about individual recognitions.
Toni Kroos with Real Madrid’s fifteenth Champions League. / EFE
Kroos, who guided Madrid to the Decimoquinta in his last dance as a Real Madrid player, has the shot of the Euro Cup, in which will lead Germany in a Euro Cup that will be played at home. The midfielder, who has returned to the national team after two years of absence, will play his last major tournament before hang up his boots on high at 34 years old and he could put the culmination of a brilliant career with a Ballon d’Or that would also serve as a tribute to his career.
The Eurocup and the Copa América will decide
He also appears in the shortlist of candidates and as the fourth in contention, newcomer Kylian Mbappéalthough in his case all his options involve winning a Euro Cup in which he will be the captain of francethe big favorite along with the England of his new partner Bellingham.
The French footballer needs to shine in the national team tournament to be eligible to attack some pools in which Vinicius is in charge right now, who in the America Cup can deliver the final blow. Of win Brazil, everything indicates that the award would go to the winger, the image of Madrid in the decisive part of the Champions League. But if he doesn’t achieve it, the options open up, with his teammates on several of the teams aspiring to reign in Europe.
2024-06-05 06:47:05
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