Ballon d'Or Power Ranking: November 2018

Modified Apr 02, 2020 05:58 GMT

#5 Eden Hazard (-1)

Eden Hazard did not get going in October as we'd expected him to

It would be safe to say that if Chelsea weren't going through such a dull spell in Antonio Conte's sophomore year and they were playing a lot more attacking football, Hazard would have made the podium.

The Belgian's quality is undeniable and in new coach Maurizio Sarri's system, Eden Hazard roars about like the king of the jungle. He's royalty on the pitch and he proves that with every single touch he takes. Leading the Blues' resurgence from the front, Hazard already has 7 goals and 3 assists to his name in the Premier League and is leading the top scorers' chart.

However, we didn't see him at his best in October. With only one goal and one assist to his name, Hazard hasn't exactly come to the fore as we'd have expected him to but he was still impressive on the field and ever so vital to Chelsea's plans. However, he drops from 4th to 5th on our rankings. Cut-throat competition, eh?

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