Real Madrid star Casemiro believes that his team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo will win the Ballon d’Or although he believes that his countryman, Neymar’s time will definitely come in the future. The Portuguese superstar enjoyed a stellar year winning the Champions League and Euro 2016 title, and is considered by many to be the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or title.
When asked about Neymar’s chances of improving on his third place finish in the future, Casemiro put his weight behind Ronaldo saying:
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“I've known [Neymar] since we were young,” Casemiro told radio show El Transistor.
“He is a great player. What Cristiano Ronaldo has done in the last 10 years should remembered for life. Neymar has been there for three or four years. Ronaldo for 10 years. It is all still ahead of Neymar.
“Cristiano will win the Ballon d'Or again this year. With the year he has had, with the Champions League and the Euros, it is certain.”
This time the Ballon d’Or award is in a slightly different format as France Football and FIFA recently ended their association. This means that the Ballon d’Or voting will be done only by an elite group of journalists and the inputs of National team captains will not be taken.
Other notable changes are that the shortlist of finalists will also increase from 23 to 30 and the shortlist of the top 3 finalists will no longer be revealed. Also, this time the award will be announced before the calendar year ends instead of January.
Zidane says Real Madrid’s midfield lacks defensive balance
Ever since Casemiro has been out injured, Real Madrid have struggled to contain opposition defences and their manager Zinedine Zidane admitted that they lacked defensive balance in the centre of the pitch.
Speaking after the 5-1 victory against Legia Warsaw, Zidane said:
"The good thing is that we made many chances to score and scored five goals," Zidane said. "I am happy with the attacking performances. We played a very offensive XI and that meant more risks.
"Defensively, the balance of the team was not perfect sometimes. They did not really make chances but were able to counter-attack easily sometimes."But that was the option taken and we played a bit more attacking today. Sunday will be another game and a different team."
Real Madrid will be hoping to secure all the 3 points when they face Atheltic Bilbao on October 24th.
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