Men’s award: Sergio Agüero (Manchester City), Alisson Becker (Liverpool), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Edinson Cavani (PSG), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Diego Godín (Atlético Madrid), Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Isco (Real Madrid), Harry Kane (Tottenham), N’golo Kanté (Chelsea), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Mario Mandzukic (Juventus), Sadio Mané (Liverpool), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Kylian Mbappé (PSG), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Neymar (PSG), Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Luis Suárez (Barcelona), Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid).

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/08/soccer-ballon-dor-football-ronaldo-messi-kane-salah-kirby-bronze-hazard-liverpool-chelsea-real

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There should be a Ballon dor raspberry list. Benzema, Cavani. Thibaut Courtois. Please! I think they are just filling numbers with those picks.

Best XI out of Ballon d'Or candidates?

GK: Jan Oblak
CB: Raphael Varane
CB: Diego Godin
CB: Sergio Ramos
CDM: N'Golo Kante
CM: Luka Modric
CM: Kevin De Bruyne
RW: Lionel Messi
LW: Eden Hazard
CF: Antoine Griezmann
ST: Kylian Mbappe

Hopefully Sergio ramos wins it guy deserved it for years

@DarthFooty I agree with most of your list but Hazard over CR7? I mean, don't get me wrong, Hazard was amazing this year but I still think Ronaldo had an even more amazing year. I mean, he won CL and while he didn't do as good in world cup, he still scored many important goal. Also, he slowly adapting to his new team and being one of their best player.

@Emobot7 I can agree only in that CR7 has jumped in with Juve and pretty much been a force with them. When he was with Real and winning the CL, he had a very good team around him so I considered Hazards contributions to play a bigger role, but seeing how he has done with Juve, I can easily switch both.

guys. why is griezman there? hes seriously overrated..

Hold on, just a question to you too here @Emo & @Darth.

Not to take away anything from Ronaldo who has been amazing, but what has he contributed to Juve that consider you to swap to Hazard if you used to think otherwise? Just throw a couple of facts here, (i was just having some talks with the Ronaldo vs Messi fans and it was quite interesting):

• Juve has been dominating Italy for 6 consecutive years.
• Juve did also very well in CL.
• Juve still wins difficult games without him (when he was suspended).

Sure last year Real had a great force around Ronaldo, but they didn't do well in La Liga either (longer run that cup). SO it isn't like Ronaldo just drag a shrinking ship up to this level, he also joined one of the most elite club at the moment, and with him they become even deadlier.

Hazards was just as influential.

With that being said, I think Ronaldo still had a better year.

i mean, he has won europa league, super cup and world cup..

@tuan_jinn Valid points and to be honest I can plug either player in on that wing and feel the team would not miss a beat.

What I like about Ronaldo right now is his contribution development to Juves offense. He will score goals of course, but he was not the provider as much as the finisher until now. He has what 7 goals and like 5 assist in just league play. I am used to seeing those numbers greatly changed in assists before Juve. It is a credit to his choice to fit the team he is with right now. Of course Juve is world class and were before Ronaldo got there. He just might be the last piece needed for Juve to take Europe again but we will see.

Hazard, I feel has had a bigger impact with Chelsea so I have him in the line up over CR7, but I can easily switch them.

@Greatone As for Griezmann, he has won so much recently and has been an influence in all aspects.

@tuan_jinn I still think CR7 is more consistently influential. Whenever I watch him play for Juve, he is alway at the center of the attack and he play with incredible desire and a will to help his team. He nearly look younger than when he played for Real. Love that.

@greatone As a classic striker and CF, he is. He is also a bit inconsistent but he is very good at helping his team control the game, keep the advantage and he can participate in many different phase of the game.

@quikzyyy True though I still think Diego Costa deserve more credit than him for the Super Cup win.

@Darth & @Emo: fair points. Completely agree, his work ethic, rates, and game are still top notch, totally admirable.

I just want to clarify certain opinion which I find quite interesting, obviously he's a great addition to any team (Juve included). But lots of people, his fans (my friends too) are ridiculous, they keep talking like: looks at how Juve dominate since Ronaldo is there, and Real sucks now... Or Ronaldo makes Juve invincible, hasn't lost a game....

I was like, dudes, comon... Juve has dominated Italy for the last 6 7 years...

But year, Im gonna be so sad the day he and Messi hang their boot, to be honest if one of the 2 got injury I loose half the interest to watch their teams

@tuan, it will still be long before ronaldo retire. As long as ribery and robben are still playing, it gives hope to the old gen to keep going :p