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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated the race for the Ballon d'Or since 2008. The duo have shared football's most prestigious honor between themselves on 12 out of the last 13 occasions.
Messi won the award in 2021, making it a record-extending seventh Ballon d'Or of his illustrious career. Although Ronaldo has not won the award since 2017, he still has five Ballon d'Ors to his name - the second-most behind Messi. Luka Modric remains the only other player to have won the Ballon d'Or during an era of sheer dominance for the duo.
However, Ronaldo and Messi have not hit their lofty standards during the ongoing season. Their struggles at Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) respectively have been well documented.
As such, the race for the Ballon d'Or 2022 could turn out to be very interesting, with several other players potentially staking a bigger claim for the honor. Ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg fixtures, former Barcelona midfielder Jofre Mateu opened up on who would have the best chance of winning the Ballon d'Or this year.
Jofre told Sportskeeda:
“I’m not saying that he is not [the player who can break the Ronaldo-Messi dominance in the race for Ballon d’Or], because many times this Ballon d’Or is not about how they perform but also the numbers.
"Benzema, in the last two seasons, probably has the numbers. Apart from these individual trophies, the Ballon d’Or, [FIFA] The Best or whatever you [can] think of, I think he is the biggest player in terms of influence in his own team.
In addition to claiming Benzema is the biggest player in the world in terms of influence, Jofre also feels the Real Madrid star offers everything in attack. He also went on to suggest that Benzema has been the best player in the world over the last two seasons:
"Real Madrid with Benzema is a huge team. Without Benzema, they are not weak but close to [being weak]. We saw Barcelona against Real Madrid without Benzema, [it ended] 4-0.
"In Real Madrid, in a huge team, being so important, not only in numbers and scoring [goals], but giving everything to the team in terms of offensive aspects, I’m sure he is probably the best player now and very close to Leo Messi in terms of his influence [on his team].
"Nowadays, when Benzema is on the pitch, even in his national team, everything is different and he is very clever. Whatever you can ask of a player in attack, he is giving you. For me now, in the last two seasons, he is the best player in the world.”
Notably, Benzema has netted 37 goals and registered 13 assists in just 37 appearances across competitions for Real Madrid this season. He has also netted back-to-back hat-tricks in the Champions League knockout stages against PSG and Chelsea respectively.
With Real Madrid still actively involved in the race to win La Liga and the Champions League, Benzema could win silverware as well this term. It will be interesting to see how he performs for France at the FIFA World Cup, which is another opportunity for him to move closer to winning the Ballon d'Or.
Who are the other candidates for the 2022 Ballon d'Or ahead of Ronaldo and Messi?
There is no denying that Benzema is one of the favorites for the 2022 Ballon d'Or. But he is also joined by several others who may even finish above Ronaldo and Messi in the final standings for the award.
Robert Lewandowski has agonizingly missed out on the award in each of the last two years. While the award was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, he could only finish second behind Messi last year. Undoubtedly, the Bayern Munich star will be determined to win the accolade in 2022.
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool is another candidate who has enjoyed some stellar form in recent seasons. However, the Egyptian has endured a dip in form recently and will not be playing the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Hence, it will be interesting to see if he can still challenge Benzema and Lewandowski for the award.
Kylian Mbappe has also racked up the numbers in terms of goals and assists this season. Despite missing out on the Champions League, a remarkable World Cup campaign with France in Qatar could help propel him into the lead in the race for the Ballon d'Or in 2022.
It remains to be seen if Ronaldo and Messi can turn the tide soon before eventually making themselves heard in potentially their final World Cup campaign.
