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The Ballon d'Or is an annual football award by France Football, for the footballer deemed to have produced the best performance for club and country during the year. Conceptualized in 1955, 44 different players from 19 different nations have been bestowed with the prestigious award. 10 players have won the Ballon d'Or on multiple occasions, with seven of them doing so in back-to-back years.
Johan Cruyff (1973-74) was the first player to win the Ballon d'Or in consecutive years, before Kevin Keegan (1978-79), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1980-81), Michel Platini (1983-85), and Marco Van Basten (1988-89) followed suit. It would be 21 more years before another player would win the Ballon d'Or in back-to-back years.
It happened to be an Argentinian magician by the name Lionel Messi, who became the first player to win the award in four consecutive years (2009-2012). Messi won a record-extending fifth award in 2015, either side of back-to-back Ballon d'Ors for Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the only player in the history of the award to have won it in consecutive years on two separate occasions.
On that note, let look at the four standout Ballon d'Or performers in the month of November 2019, and find out who has bolstered their case to win the prestigious award.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus / Portugal)
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his fourth hat-trick of the year (3 for Portugal, 1 for Juventus) in the penultimate game of the Euro 2020 qualifiers where Portugal beat Lithuania 3-0 at home. Three days later, Ronaldo scored his nation's second goal in a 2-0 away win in Luxembourg to secure the defending European champion's qualification for the quadrennial tournament next summer.
In the process, Ronaldo swelled his goal tally in international football to 99, which is the highest by any player after Iran's Ali Daei.
But in club football Ronaldo had a lukewarm month, failing to score in his side's 2-1 away win at Lokomotiv Moscow and the 1-0 home win over Atletico Madrid which confirmed already-qualified Juventus as the group winners. Ronaldo narrowly failed to become the first player in Champions League history to score against 34 different teams when his goal-bound free-kick was spilled by the Spartak keeper and his Bianconeri team-mate Aaron Ramsey prodded the ball into an unguarded net.
The 34-year-old did not find the back of the net in Juventus's solitary goal Serie A wins over Torino (away) and AC Milan home either.
With four goals and an assist in the month, Ronaldo took his goals + assists tally for the calendar year to 37 (32 goals and five assists). It has not been an unremarkable season from the Portugal captain by any stretch of the imagination, but in 2019 he has not been able to score with the same regularity as he did during his time at Real Madrid.
Despite winning the Serie A and the Super Coppa Italiana for Juventus, and the UEFA Nations League for Portugal in which scored a hat-trick in the semi-final, it has generally been an underwhelming year by Ronaldo's lofty standards. Hence, it can arguably be concluded that the Juventus striker is not in serious contention to win a record 6th Ballon d'Or in 2019.
Also read: Looking back at all of Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-tricks in international football
#3 Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)
With 7 goals in 5 games for Real Madrid in 2019, Karim Benzema has had a fine month.
Benzema's brace in his club's 6-0 home win over Galatasaray on Matchday 5 of the 2019-20 Champions League made him the first player after Lionel Messi to score in 15 consecutive seasons in the competition.
Benzema then turned to the domestic front and scored a brace in a 4-0 away win at Eibar to become the leading Liga scorer of the season. The Frenchman consolidated his standing atop the Liga scoring charts by scoring a goal in Madrid's 3-1 home win over Real Sociedad, as the capital club joined Barcelona at the top of the Liga standings.
Three days later Benzema scored another brace, this time against Paris St. Germain in the Champions League, as Real Madrid qualified for the knockout round of the competition with a game to spare.
A fabulous scoring streak during the month took the Frenchman's goal-tally for the calendar year to 33. However, there have been other players who have been more consistent than Benzema, and so it can be surmised that the Frenchman is not among the top 3 favourites to lift the 2019 Ballon d'Or trophy.
#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina)
With 5 goals in 5 games for Barcelona and 2 goals in 2 games for Argentina, November 2019 was a good month for Lionel Messi as he bolsters his case to win a record sixth Ballon d'Or title.
Messi started the month by scoring a goal in Barcelona's 3-1 Liga defeat at Levante, before equaling Cristiano Ronaldo's record of most Liga hat-tricks (34) by scoring thrice in a 4-1 win over Celta Vigo.
In the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund, Messi marked his 700th competitive appearance for Barcelona by scoring his second goal in this season's competition. In the process, the Argentina captain became the first player in the history of the Champions League to score against 34 different teams.
Messi has had a hand in 62 goals for club and country in 2019, scoring 43 goals and providing 19 assists, making him one of the favourites to win the 2019 Ballon d'Or title.
Also read: 5 reasons why Messi is the greatest of all time
#1 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich / Poland)
With 8 goals and an assist in 5 games for Bayern Munich and 1 goal in 2 games for Poland, Robert Lewandowski is the standout Ballon d'Or performer of the month.
Having broken Pierre-Americk Aubameyang's record of scoring in 8 consecutive matches since the start of a Bundesliga season, Lewandowski's goal in Bayern's 5-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt was the sole bright spot in a dismal evening for the Bavarian club who endured their worst league defeat in a decade.
With new coach Hansi Flick at the helm, Lewandowski scored a brace against his former club Borussia Dortmund in a commanding 4-0 home win in the first Der Klassiker of the season. In the process, the Bayern striker broke the record of Gerd Muller (15 goals) to become the first player to score 16 goals after 11 games of a Bundesliga season, and extend his consecutive scoring streak since the start of the season to 11.
Lewandowski scored in a 3-2 home win over Slovenia as Poland signed off a successful Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with four wins on the trot.
Back in club football after the international break, Lewandowski's 11-game scoring streak in the Bundesliga came to an end in a 4-0 win over Dusseldorf.
Turning his attention to the Champions League, Lewandowski plundered a 14-minute quadruple at Crvena Zvezda as Bayern Munich sealed top-spot in the group. In the process, the Bayern marksman recorded the fastest-ever quadruple in Champions League history and became the only player after Lionel Messi to score multiple quadruples in the competition.
The goals in the Serbian capital swelled Lewandowski's goal tally in club football to 27 in 20 games for the season. He is well on course to breaking Muller's record of most Bundesliga goals in a season (40) and Messi's record of the best season in club football (73 goals in 2011-12).
Lewandowski's tally of 51 goals and 11 assists in 53 games for club and country this year makes him one of the favourites to win the 2019 Ballon d'Or.
Also read: Is Robert Lewandowski on course for the greatest-ever season in club football?
