Ballon d'Or Power Ranking: November 2018

Modified Apr 02, 2020 05:58 GMT

#8 Neymar Jr. (+1)

Neymar will have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to finish on the podium

Shadows aren't too kind to Neymar Jr, eh? This year could have turned out a whole lot better for Neymar if he wasn't nursing an injury towards the latter half of the 2017-18 season.

The Brazilian hasn't been at his very best either with Kylian Mbappe now emerging as a star of equal standing, as per the masses. In October, Neymar only managed a solitary goal but still proved to be instrumental for both Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain by being his team's best player on a couple of occasions.

He also raked in 3 assists and that sees him gain a place and go from 9th to 8th on our ranking but it seems highly likely that Neymar will miss out on the prestigious award this time around.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad