The Ballon d’Or was awarded to Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema on Monday, but much of the conversation was about who didn’t win the award.
Recently, a former manager slammed voters for leaving Lionel Messi off the top 50, and one former coach was surprised not to see Kylian Mbappé on the podium for the award.
Mbappé finished sixth in the Ballon d’Or voting, which is mind-boggling for former coach of Olympique de Marseille Rolland Courbis. Courbis states that the 23-year-old should have been in the top five.
“Given what he has done in his club and with the France team, both in statistics and in performance, I do not understand why Mbappé is not in the top five,” Courbis said recently (h/t Paris Fans). “I am not in the all convinced by this classification. And to tell you the truth, I would have even put him on the podium.
“Okay, he was eliminated in the knockout stages of the Champions League, but we can see it, he scored in the first leg and in the return leg against Real Madrid, he scored six times in this competition, he did the job! If I am made to choose between the year of Mbappé and that of Lewandowski or Salah, my choice is made! Let’s not try to redeem ourselves with Lewandowski after the fiascos of previous years.”
The France international is young and will be challenging for the yearly award. But, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi fading away from being contenders for the honor, it’s wide open for any player to take.
Should Mbappé help France repeat as champions at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and then help PSG win the UEFA Champions League in 2023, he will have the resume to win the award next year.
