Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior (foreground), seen right here with Kylian Mbappe, is the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or this 12 months
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The elite of world soccer will collect in Paris on Monday (October 28, 2024) for the Ballon d’Or ceremony, with Real Madrid ahead Vinicius Junior the main candidate for the lads’s award and Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati the new favorite to win her second-successive crown.
The males’s shortlist for the 2023/24 version of the distinguished particular person award is the primary since 2003 to function neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo who hoovered up the prize 13 occasions between them.
Vinicius, the person who inherited Ronaldo’s quantity seven shirt at Real Madrid, has been tipped by many pundits to succeed Messi because the Men’s Ballon d’Or after a season wherein he received the Spanish championship and Champions League.
« Vinicius is going to win (the Ballon d’Or), » Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti declared after his participant netted a hat-trick in a 5-2 Champions League win towards Borussia Dortmund final week.
« And not because of the three goals but because of his character. He’s extraordinary. »
If the 24-year-old Brazilian confirmed why he’s anticipated to take Messi’s crown in Madrid’s beautiful comeback midweek, he was much less influential in Saturday’s La Liga Clasico as Real had been comprehensively crushed 4-0 by Barcelona.
But Vinicius’ six objectives final time period had been very important as Madrid lifted their fifteenth Champions League, with the attacker scoring a brace within the semi-final and a aim within the closing.
Vinicius has additionally develop into a figurehead within the battle towards racism after being focused on quite a few events since arriving in Spain in 2018.
He earned worldwide help in May 2023 when he squared off with Valencia supporters after struggling abuse at their Mestalla Stadium.
Other contenders
The gamers anticipated to problem Vinicius for the Ballon d’Or are club-mate and England star Jude Bellingham, in addition to Manchester City and Spain’s Euro 2024-winning midfield basic Rodri.
Also among the many listing of nominees are aim machines Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.
Real Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal has an outdoor shot, after a season which noticed him raise the treble of La Liga, Champions League and European Championship.
In the Women’s Ballon d’Or, 26-year-old Barcelona and Spain playmaker Bonmati is predicted to retain the title she claimed for the primary time final season.
She was once more the excellent participant in a group which received its first continental quadruple of home league and cup, Spanish Supercopa and Champions League.
Barcelona’s dominance of the ladies’s sport is mirrored within the variety of nominees the Catalan membership boasts, with attackers Caroline Graham Hansen and Salma Paralluelo thought-about the 2 principal threats to their club-mate Bonmati.
The Ballon d’Or ceremony will happen within the centre of Paris on Monday the place the winners, as determined by a world jury of soccer journalists, shall be introduced.
Published – October 28, 2024 11:00 am IST
Content Source: www.thehindu.com