Ballon d'Or 2017: 5 players who did not deserve their ranking

Modified Dec 13, 2017 07:18 GMT

Athletic Club v Real Madrid - La Liga — Benzema has not been at his best this season

#3 Karim Benzema (Rank 25)

Real Madrid v Malaga - La Liga — Benzema has been booed by his own fans for some off-colour performances

Let me tell you first off that Karim Benzema's importance in the Real Madrid set-up is underappreciated. His excellent link-up play often gets the best out of Ronaldo and co and his tricky movement causes opposition defenders plenty of problems.

However, this year, Benzema has really struggled to find his scoring boots. His finishing has been woeful while his usually solid dependable link-up play has also come under increasing scrutiny.

Madrid have let go off Alvaro Morata and that has added some responsibility for the Frenchman. However, Benzema is arguably having his worst season as a Madrid player and has even struggled with injuries.

While Benzema did win the Champions League and LaLiga last season, his performances, as an individual, hardly merited a rank higher than the likes of Coutinho and Dzeko.

Also read: Ballon d'Or 2017: 5 players who deserved to be ranked higher

About the author

A Bengaluru lad through and through, Ashwin Hanagudu is a huge fan of Liverpool and unsurprisingly pledges his sworn allegiance to RCB in the IPL. With over 8+ years of experience in this field, Ashwin manages multiple verticals at Sportskeeda and as of July 2024 is the most-read author in the football section.

Apart from his duties at Sportskeeda, Ashwin Hanagudu is also an active table tennis player and has played multiple state ranking and national tournaments representing Karnataka.

A huge sports fan, some of the athletes and sportspersons he admires in no particular order are Virat Kohli, Steven Gerrard, Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu

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Edited by Aakanksh Sanketh