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Ballon d’Or 2018: Luka Modric ends decade-long duopoly of Messi and Ronaldo

By Desk
Updated on :
Ballon d'Or 2018: Modric ended decade-long duopoly of Messi and Ronaldo

Luka Modric the winner of Ballon d’Or 2018, has put an end to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s decade-long dominance over Ballon d’Or award. Modric became first Croatian to lift this award after already been named as FIFA’s Best Men’s Player this year.

Croatian captain and Real Madrid midfielder, Modric (33), capped a brilliant 2018 by winning the Ballon d’Or award in Paris.

Modric helped Real Madrid to win their third consecutive Champions League this year, in May and also captained Croatian team to the FIFA World Cup Finals. Despite losing the Final to France by 4-2, Modric was being named as player of the tournament.

The 19-year-old Mbappe – the youngest player to score in a World Cup final, won the inaugural Kopa Trophy awarded to the best young player and Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or with Matildas star Sam Kerr fifth in the voting.

The last player to win the Ballon d’Or before Ronaldo and Messi was Brazil midfielder Kaka with AC Milan in 2007.

The 33-year-old then beat former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo to FIFA’s The Best prize in September and on Monday, he ended 10 years of dominance by the Portuguese and Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or.

Ballon d’or 2018: End of the monopolised decade?

Modric after winning the award said, “The Ballon d’Or was more than just a dream for me and it is really an honour and a privilege to hold this trophy.”

He continued by saying, “These two [Ronaldo and Messi] were on some exceptional level for the last 10 years, maybe in the past there are some players that could win the Ballon d’Or, like Xavi, Iniesta or Sneijder, but it didn’t happen.”

“People are finally, I don’t know, they wanted something else. I think it’s victory for football tonight”, Modric said.

Luka Modric named best male player at FIFA awards

“I am happy that I am the winner but this award is for all the players that probably deserved to win but didn’t”, words by Ballon d’Or 2018 winner Luka Modric.

This time, Ronaldo finished second, with World Cup winners Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe third and fourth, respectively. And Messi, unbelievably, was back in fifth.

The Croatian is a worthy winner and his triumph is fair and square, refreshing even as a midfielder is chosen instead of a 50-goal-a-season forward.

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