Ballon d'Or Power Ranking: September 2019

Modified Oct 02, 2019 09:56 GMT

Who's going to win the Ballon d'Or this time?

#1 Virgil Van Dijk

If somebody told you that Liverpool were going to sort out their defence so well that one of their central defenders would have a very realistic chance of winning the Ballon d'Or back in 2017, you'd have possibly become a laughing stock at the corner pub. However, that's just exactly how things have panned out.

The UEFA Player of the Year, Virgil Van Dijk is so evidently a cut above the rest. An absolute colossus of a defender, there is no getting past him. Athletic, agile, strong and level-headed, he is that rare defender who can stick a foot out to stop a menacing-looking attack just as well as he can thump a 60 yarder into the path of his strikers to upset the opposition's goal.

Virgil Van Dijk provides Liverpool the stage on which Liverpool perform their heavy metal football artistry and boy, it's a joy to behold. This might well be the first time that a centre-back wins the Ballon d'Or after Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 and we can tell you that if Van Dijk does end up with the Ballon d'Or, there can be no complaints whatsoever.

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