Case against Real Madrid superstar Luka Modric lifting the Ballon d'Or

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  • Luka Modric, Ballon d’Or winner.

    Just reward for a 2018 that featured the Golden Ball for Croatia as best player at the World Cup and a third-consecutive Champions League-crown with Real Madrid, or counter-evidence to the axiom about The Wisdom of Crowds?

    It had, seemingly, become accepted fact since the successes of the summer that the 33-year-old centre midfielder deserved to shatter the decade-long duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the game’s grandest individual prizes.

    The only regular dissenting voice from within football came from Atletico Madrid and France forward Antoine Griezmann. His brazen campaign to be crowned on Monday night at Paris’ Grand Palais was, almost solely, self-serving – and even continued in defeat after the ceremony.

    “I am very happy with my year 2018,” he said.

    “I won the Europa League, I won the Super Cup and the World Cup so it’s a great year. A little disappointed [to miss out on the Ballon d’Or] but it was a big night to celebrate the winners, so I had to be there.”

    Sour grapes, perhaps. But with more than a kernel of truth.

    Griezmann is just one of several players who could feel aggrieved by the collective decision of the 176 journalists, drawn from across the globe. The only difference was his decision to so publicly canvas votes.

    A dispassionate analysis of Modric’s calendar year sees him put in mixed displays for a Madrid side that finished 17 points off La Liga champions Barcelona and stutter out the gates in 2018/19.

    In the knockout phase of last term’s Champions League, Ronaldo would score six goals on the way to victory. Gareth Bale was named man of the match in the final.

    In Russia, Modric was spellbinding against Argentina in the groups and exerted a growing influence against England in the semi-finals. He also missed a penalty – that his pass helped earn – in the forgettable round-of-16 triumph versus Denmark and could not lay a glove on the likes of Paul Pogba in the sodden, one-sided decider against France.

    Raphael Varane is equally guilty of mixed form for Madrid. Yet the centre-back is now not just a Champions League holder, but possesses a World Cup winner’s medal.

    He was also peerless in shut-outs against Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani’s Uruguay – from which he scored the opener – in the quarter-finals, plus star-studded Belgium in the semis.

    This should count for more than seventh place in the Ballon d’Or rankings.

    Griezmann scored in three of Les Bleus’ four knockout matches in Russia, including a penalty in the final. He also scored two of three goals in May’s 3-0 triumph for Atleti against Marseille in the Europa League showpiece.

    Influence is not always ascertained in a cold reading of statistics. This is certainly the case with Modric’s unmatched ability – certainly since Xavi stepped away from the European game – to bend a match his way, drop a shoulder to earn a hard-won inch of space in midfield and selflessly facilitate the attackers in front of him.

    His 484 passes was the second-most notched in Russia. This speaks volume of his brand of influence.

    But when it comes to weight of numbers, Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah produced the most-prolific Premier League season in history with 32 strikes in 36 matches – admittedly, across a period that traverses the 2017 and 2018 votes.

    This was during a debut season, to boot.

    Modric’s former colleague Ronaldo moved to Juventus in the summer for €110 million at the age of 33. His seamless transition now features 10 goals in his last 11 Serie A matches.

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    Never mind the aforementioned exploits at Madrid. Against his future employers in an epic Champions League quarter-final, his bicycle kick in Turin stands as one of football’s great goals and a converted 98th-minute penalty to salvage progression represents an all-time clutch moment.

    Messi has come away from 2018 with the La Liga crown and a lifetime worth of recriminations after a, probably last, viable shot at World Cup glory with Argentina went to waste.

    His much-criticised displays in Russia dominate a narrative that ignores a domestic campaign that ranked among his finest for Barcelona.

    Fatigue about this pair’s dominance created a bandwagon, from which Modric was the recipient.

    Resentment from them about this week’s usurpation is natural. They are not alone.

    Change is good, but it rings hollow if not allied with justification.

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