Ballon d'Or 2018: 6 players who should have been nominated

#1 Philippe Coutinho

Coutinho was the star of Brazil's World Cup campaign

The 26-year-old Brazilian had his season truncated due to transfer disputes between Liverpool and Barcelona, which meant he started the season late for The Reds.

He still proved his worth to the Kops, scoring 12 goals and 9 assists in 20 appearances. With 7 goals coming in the league and 5 in the UCL, including a hat-trick against Spartak Moscow.

Coutinho finally got his dream move to Barcelona in a deal worth over €140m in January, making him the third most expensive player of all time, but he had his appearances limited to domestic competitions, as he had already starred in the Champions League with Liverpool.

He still performed incredibly well in the Blaugrana's colours, helping it to a domestic double, scoring 19 goals in 22 appearances.

Heading into the World Cup with Brazil, Coutinho was expected to play the role of a supporting cast as Neymar starred to lead his nation to glory.

However, the scripts seemingly changed, as Neymar lived true to his role as an actor, but more on the floor rolling around with theatrics, while it was Coutinho who stepped up and was the man who lifted his country on his shoulders in their ultimately fruitless World Cup quest which was ended at the quarter-final stage.

Coutinho had brilliant domestic campaign across two different leagues despite having a truncated season and was one of a very few Brazilian players who rose to the occasion at the World Cup hence his exclusion from the Ballon d'Or nominees is inexcusable.