The Barcelona and Real Madrid men are leading the way…
The Ballon d’Or is awarded on Monday evening, and Cristiano Ronaldo looks like the favourite to win the prize.
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However, should the Portuguese be the favourite? Here are the statistics behind the three players’ amazing years in the sport. Who do you think should win?
Stats courtesy of Goal.com.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
Games: 60
Goals: 54
Penalties: 10
Goals to games ratio: 0.9
Assists: 18
With eight goals in the knockout stages of the Champions League in 2014, the 29-year-old became the highest ever scorer in the elimination stages of the competition. He also equaled the most ever hat tricks in La Liga with 22, and scored the most ever goals in the first ten rounds of fixtures in the Spanish top flight with an amazing 17.
Lionel Messi, Barcelona
Games: 59
Goals: 46
Penalties: 7
Goals to games ratio: 0.78
Assists: 21
It says a lot that in a year where he is expected to be named the second best player in the world, Messi has been accused of being out of form. During the last twelve months he has broken Raul’s Champions League goalscoring record with 75, became the all-time leading goalscorer in El Clasico with 24 strikes, and been a finalist for a record eighth time for the biggest individual prize in football.
Manuel Neuer, Bayern Munich
Games: 56
Conceded: 40
Goals to games ratio: 0.71
Save percentage: 78.4%
Clean sheets: 28
It is harder to see the keeper’s performances through stats due to the fact that there is no single place to look at, such as how many goals scored is for the other two. However, it is still incredibly impressive that the German only conceded four goals in the second half of the Bundesliga in 2014, and only another four so far this current season. He has also been the most successful in terms of trophies, winning the World Cup, Bundesliga, and DFB-Pokal Cup.