How the French Striker made it to the shortlisted 30 can only be explained by people who made the list. Benzema was extremely poor last season, scoring just 12 games in all competitions. He did win the UEFA Champions League, scoring 5 goals in the tournament. Yet his overall performance was so substandard – he scored just 5 goals in 32 games in La Liga – that he was not picked for the France National Team that went to Russia and won the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
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This season though, Benzema has been better so far. He has already scored 5 goals from 11 games, in a bid to revive himself. But does that warrant a place among the 30 best football players in the World? You be the judge.
Player who missed out: Philippe Coutinho
The Brazilian was fabulous last season, though he played the first half for Liverpool before switching to Barcelona in the winter. Coutinho scored 22 goals in all competitions and picked up 14 assists, he also won the La Liga and the Copa del Rey with Barcelona. At the World Cup, he was Brazil’s creator in chief and also scored 2 goals. Coutinho certainly deserves to be in the 30 man shortlist for the 2018 Ballon d’Or and it is a shame that he has missed out.
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About the author
Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.
Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.
Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.
Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.
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