Roberto Carlos picks his Ballon d'Or favourite; names players with best free-style skills

What's the story?

Former Real Madrid left-back Roberto Carlos has named his pick for the prestigious Ballon d'Or while also dropping the names of players with the best free-style skills in football.

In case you didn't know...

The Ballon d'Or ceremony is closing in on us and football fans have never been as excited to see if a player will finally break the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly over the award.

France Football had released their thirty-man shortlist which includes players like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Aguero, Alisson Becker, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Roberto Firmino, Diego Godin, Antoine Griezmann, Eden Hazard, Isco, Harry Kane, N’Golo Kante, Hugo Lloris, Mario Mandzukic, Sadio Mane, Marcelo, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Neymar, Paul Pogba, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Ramos, Mohamed Salah, Luis Suarez, Jan Oblak and Raphael Varane.

Since its release, reports of a new king in football have been doing the rounds, with the likes of Luka Modric, Raphael Varane and Kylian Mbappe among the top favourites.

The heart of the matter

Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos has now given his verdict on the potential winner of the award, while also naming the players he thinks possess the best freestyle skills in the game.

Speaking of his Ballon d'Or favourite, Carlos said (via Marca), "Luka Modric is the favourite for me, now he's physically better and he's going to be at his best again."

The former defender went on to name Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar and Robinho as the players with the best free-style skills. He said, "Ibrahimovic, Neymar and Robinho, but Beckham, Zidane and Ronaldo are also good."

"During a preseason with Real Madrid in Austria, Zidane, Ronaldo and I practiced doing tricks... and Ronaldo did things we couldn't do, freestyler stuff."

"Our training was open to the public and every movement was cheered by the people who were in the stands."

What's next?

All speculation around the award will come to an end when the winner will be announced on December 3.