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The Ballon d'Or is now being considered as the most important individual honour for a footballer. The France Football award has been awarded to Messi and Ronaldo 5 times in the last decade as the rest try to break the duopoly.
Last month's power ranking saw Mauro Icardi at the #10 spot, Mo Salah at #4, Neymar #3, De Bruyne at #2 and Messi leading the race. All that has changed drastically now. There is a new entry in the top 5 and one of the aforementioned names have had a steep fall in his rank.
Will the streak finally come to an end this season or will one of those two itself end up winning it? Here are the power rankings as of March 1st, 2018:
#10 – Sergio Aguero
Sergio Aguero is arguably one of the best strikers in the world right now. Forget right now, he's arguably been in the top 5 for a long time now but he has not received a single recognition.
He won the golden boot winner in the 2014/15 season but still failed to make the PFA Team of the Year. He's won the player of the month award on multiple occasions but has not made the FIFPro XI even a single time.
This season, despite missing out a few matches after his car crash, the Argentine has 31 goals from 38 apps in all competitions. He has managed to make the most of all the chances he's got and made Guardiola rethink.
#9 Luis Suarez
Luis Suarez did not enjoy a good start to the season. He was unable to link up well with his teammates and was missing chances left, right and centre.
Despite the slow start, Suarez now has 24 goals from 37 matches this season. Adding to that, the Uruguayan has 7 assists – 6 of them coming in La Liga.
He's yet to find the net in the Champions League this year and that's the main reason why he's stuck in the 9th place for the second month running. Barcelona will need the striker to pull up his socks and score against Chelsea as the Blues will come to Camp Nou with a bus.
#8 Edinson Cavani
From one Uruguayan to another. Cavani was on fire at the start of the season but has now lost his form. He was ruthless in front of goal (and to Neymar when he asked for the penalty) but all that has gone now.
He's fallen down the Power Rankings this month. The main reason is his failure to do anything in both the matches vs Real Madrid. He was one of the biggest flops for PSG and that resulted in them getting knocked out.
With 33 goals from 41 games, Cavani might have done enough to finish this season in the top 10 of the power ranking but will be dropping out of it soon, especially with rumours of PSG planning to sell him.
#7 Harry Kane
Harry Kane is undoubtedly England's best striker right now and is not far from being the best in the world. With 37 goals from 40 games this season, Kane is on course to win the Golden Boot in the Premier League and is also challenging Messi and Ronaldo for the European Golden Shoe!
The Tottenham star, however, has a long way to go to win the Ballon d'Or. He needs a move to a big club or needs his teammates to help him a lot more and win a lot of silverware at White Hart Lane in the next few seasons.
Tottenham have been riding on his form and would want him to end the season in the same way. They are out of the Champions League and are 5 points ahead of Chelsea in the 4th place.
#6 Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski missed out on the Golden Boot last season because of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. This season, he's ensured that there is no one who can snatch that from him.
With 20 goals in the Bundesliga this season, Lewandowski is all but assured of winning the Golden Boot. The one in the second place, with 13 goals, is Aubameyang – who's already left the league and moved to Arsenal.
His ruthlessness in front of goal has got him to the 6th place this month from 8th. With speculations of him heading for the exit this season, it's going to be interesting to see how he finishes off this season.
#5 Kevin de Bruyne
Kevin de Bruyne has been stunning this season but the month of February wasn't a good one for the Belgian. He had a hat-trick of assists in Manchester City's 5-1 win over Leicester City but apart from that, he only managed to register one assist and zero goals for the whole month.
This has seen his Ballon d'Or Power Rank also take a hit. He was 2nd on our list last month but has come down to 5th!
The steep fall in his form hasn't affected Manchester City so much as they won the League Cup, edged closer to the League title and qualified for the next round of the Champions League too.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo
After failing to make the list last months, Cristiano Ronaldo has jumped to the 4th spot just like that. The Real Madrid superstar had a stunning month and that saw him head back into the race for the Ballon d'Or.
He scored 8 goals and assisted one in 5 games last month. Moreover, he was instrumental in Madrid's Champions League clash against PSG – a competition Ronaldo never fails to deliver in!
With 31 goals from 33 games in a season that has been labelled as his worst ever, Ronaldo is proving his critics wrong. Can he win the Ballon d'Or for the 3rd consecutive year? He's got 6 months to do what he does best to reach the top once again.
#3 Neymar
Neymar has been absolutely killin' it in League 1 this season but the month of February was a tragic one for the Brazilian. For a player who scores and assists in almost all the games, Neymar managed just 2 goals and 2 assists in the whole month.
He went missing in their biggest game of the season – vs Real Madrid – and was unable to inspire the French side. He hs now undergone a surgery after he fractured his foot during PSG's 3-0 win over Marseille on February 25.
He has the World Cup coming and it won't be a surprise if he manages to outshine Messi and Ronaldo on the grandest stage of them all and takes a huge step towards the Ballon d'Or.
#2 Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah is undoubtedly the best player in the Premier League this season. Liverpool might not be winning the title this season but they have definitely shown that they are serious contenders for it, mainly because of the Egyptian.
With 33 goals in 41 apps this season, Salah has surprised all. He was a flop during his first stint in the Premier League with Chelsea but has come back as a totally different player and is leading the attack for Liverpool.
He scored 5 and assisted twice in his 4 appearances during the month of February and that has seen him rise in the rankings from 4th to second! Can he end up on the podium? Only time will tell.
#1 Leo Messi
In the summer, football pundits across the world were sure that Barcelona have no chance of winning anything this season. They had lost Neymar to PSG in the summer and were outclassed by Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España.
What they forgot was that they still had Lionel Messi. The Argentine has been on top of his game this season and is leading the club to the League title once again.
In February, he managed to do something he's never done – score vs Chelsea. That goal has put Barcelona in the driver's seat in the Champions League tie.
With 24 goals in La Liga alone this season, Messi has made sure that he's leading the race for the Ballon d'Or. Adding to that, he's got 13 assists in the league.
