Former Manchester United midfielder and a part of France’s 2014 FIFA World Cup squad, Morgan Schneiderlin has claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are not favourites to win the Ballon d’Or 2019.
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Schneiderlin, who now plays for Everton in the Premier League, is of the thought that because the Ronaldo-Messi duo wasn’t able to win the UEFA Champions League, they shouldn’t be in contention for the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.
The midfielder said that Liverpool’s star defender Virgil van Dijk, who led the Reds to the UCL title and helped them put up a monumental effort to win their first-ever Premier League only to be left behind by a near-invincible Manchester City side, is many people’s favourite but might end up missing out on the award.
While in conversation with Soccer Laduma’s Shaistah Kader, he said, “This year, many people will say Virgil van Dijk now and I don’t know if he is going to win because he is a centre-back. They don’t win a lot of awards, but why not for him?”
“Because you have players like Cristiano Ronaldo, who didn’t win a lot this year, and Lionel Messi didn’t win much either. Kylian Mbappe, maybe, because he won the World Cup?”