Ballor d'Or 2018: Predicting the top 3 nominees

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo

He made us lose our breath with his outstanding free-kick and his hattrick goal in the last minutes of the game against Spain in the World Cup. He made opposition fans rise up to applaud him on hostile grounds in the Champions League. His unbelievable goalscoring form saw him stand second for the Pichichi award when no one imagined he could even come close with a dismal start to the season.

There's very little that Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't achieved individually last season, winning the Champions League for the fourth time in five years with Real Madrid and being the top scorer in the competition. He also won the FIFA Club World Cup with Los Blancos, before moving to Turin after a record transfer, where his team Juventus are league leaders with a perfect start to the season.

Him not winning the FIFA Best Player of the Year Award award was surprising, perhaps because of his winning streak, but he could be the Ballon d'Or winner again this year.

There are other strong contenders for the award such as Liverpool's "Egyptian King" Mohamed Salah who had an amazing run with the Reds last season. The 19-year-old wonder kid Kylian Mbappe and the Atletico Madrid superstar Antoine Griezmann were both brilliant in the World Cup. Eden Hazard, who is enjoying an amazing start to the new season also helped Belgium to a third-place finish in the World Cup.

But the number of accolades and trophies collected by the three players mentioned beforehand put them a cut above the rest.

Edited by Raunak J