BEST Of The BEST
In all aspects of Messi’s performance, he was in a different league to his fellow attack-minded players.’
FACT FILE
MESSI MAKES IT SIX
On a Monday evening in December 2018, the Ballon d’Or was bestowed on a new name for the first time in over a decade. After helping Real Madrid to a third straight Champions League success and the Croatia national team to the World Cup final, Luka Modric became the man to finally break the cycle of perpetual dominance by the apparent untouchables, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
With five wins apiece over a 10-year period, football’s most coveted individual award had become an annual battle for supremacy between these two extraordinary talents, the brilliance of one bringing something even more extra special from the other.
Modric’s win broke the duopoly and could have signalled the end of an era, but normal service has resumed as Messi claimed the prize in 2019 for a record-breaking sixth time.
It was a keenly contested battle. Ronaldo’s exploits for club and country saw him come third behind Virgil van Dijk, the highest placed of numerous Liverpool players to make
