Ballon d'Or: Will the dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi come to an end?

Is this the time when perhaps one of the best midfielders of all time, Luka Modrić, is going to make it through?

The Ballon d'Or used to be the rivalry between two of the greatest players: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. But this isn't just about goals and assists this year. It has changed a lot this time, and the rivalry might come to an end.

Luka Modrić has had an extraordinary season. Not only did he guide Real Madrid to their third consecutive UEFA Champions League win, but he also did a lot of work playing for his country, Croatia, in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He left the fans wowed with his endurance, skills, and consistency.

Real Madrid has been a top club in the past half-decade, and Modrić has certainly been a huge factor in the success the club has achieved in recent years.

The Croatian was awarded the Golden Ball. He also received the Best European Midfielder and Player of the Season awards a few days back.

Luka has been the player with 15 lungs and is everywhere around the field. It doesn't really matter what position he plays, because he's the only player who runs around the field completing the job of his fellow teammates. That is something which I have never seen another playmaker do. We can't just judge the performance of a football player by the goals scored and assists created, because things come to action when the playmaker moves the ball around the field.

He played a role where he was more involved on the field and more responsible for the success of Real Madrid than Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. According to managingmadrid, he had the most completed passes above Iniesta, Toni Kroos, Marco Verratti, and Ivan Rakitic, and his passes were more accurate too.

It has been precisely 10 years since Cristiano Ronaldo first won the FIFA Ballon d'Or and since then it has been a fight to be the best, with him and Lionel Messi ending up as the winner or runner-up for the award. Both superstars have 5 Ballon d'Or victories.

Cristiano Ronaldo had an amazing season too, both in being an individual player and a player carrying the team on his back. He was the highest scorer in the UEFA Champions League and the second highest scorer in La Liga. In the World Cup, Ronaldo led his national team, but they couldn't make it out of the Round of 16.

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The Portuguese superstar recently won the best European Forward Player Award.

Lionel Messi was the top scorer in La Liga and overall top scorer this last season, making him the only player who has won the Golden Boot Award five times. He helped his club Barcelona pick up several wins over other great clubs in La Liga.