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The Ballon d'Or is an annual football award awarded by France Football to the professional footballer deemed to have had the best performance for club and country in that year.
Originally instituted in 1955, a total of 44 different players from 19 different nations have won the prestigious award. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with 5 apiece, lead a group of 10 players to have won the award on multiple occasions. The duo is one of 7 players to win the award in consecutive years, with Messi the only one to win the Ballon d'Or on a record 4 consecutive years (2009-2012).
30 different players have been nominated for the 2019 Ballon d'Or, and the winner is to be crowned on 2nd December in the French capital. Let us examine the top 5 2019 Ballon d'Or nominees with the most goals and assists in 2019.
#5 Kylian Mbappe (Paris St. Germain / France): 48 (34 goals and 14 assists)
The 20-year-old Frenchman has had an impressive 2019 after winning the FIFA World Cup for France as a teenager last year.
Mbappe's 20 Ligue 1 goals in the first half of the year, en route to a league-high 33 goals for the season helped Paris St. Germain to their sixth French top-flight title in seven years. The Frenchman has continued his good form this year, scoring 5 goals in Ligue 1 and 4 in the Champions League.
Mbappe's hat-trick in PSG's 5-0 win at Club Brugges made the Frenchman the youngest player to score 15 Champions League goals, breaking the earlier record held by Lionel Messi. The 20-year-old also scored in a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid as PSG sealed top-spot in their Champions League group with a game to spare.
With 34 goals and 14 assists, the Frenchman has had a hand in 48 goals for club and country, which is the 5th-best by a 2019 Ballon d'Or nominee.
#4 Raheem Sterling (Manchester City, England): 61 (37 goals + 24 assists)
Raheem Sterling scored 8 Premier League goals and provided 5 assists since the turn of the year as Manchester City beat Liverpool by a point in a magnificent title race to win back-to-back Premier League titles.
Continuing his good form from the previous season, Sterling opened the new season with a Matchday 1 hat-trick against West Ham and has since scored 5 goals as Manchester City strive to keep pace with runaway league leaders Liverpool.
Sterling opened England's qualifying campaign for Euro 2020 with a hat-trick against the Czech Republic and has scored or provided an assist in each of the 6 other qualifying games as the Three Lions sealed qualification with a game to spare.
In the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League, Sterling scored his third hat-trick of the year by netting 3 goals in Manchester City's 5-1 home win over tournament debutants Atalanta. The English striker also scored in City's 1-1 draw at Atalanta en route to scoring 5 goals and providing 3 assists in 5 games as the English champions reached the knockout round with a 1-1 home draw with Shakhtar Donetsk.
#3 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Germany): 62 (51 goals + 11 assists)
Robert Lewandowski's 12 Bundesliga goals since the turn of the year as Bayern Munich won their 7th-straight top-flight title was a glimpse of what was to come as the 2018-19 season drew to a close.
The prolific marksman started the new Bundesliga season with a record-scoring streak of 11 games, en route to 16 goals in 12 games, as he remains on course to level Gerd Muller's 1971-72 record of 40 Bundesliga goals in a season.
Having scored his third career Euro Qualifying hat-trick in Poland's 3-0 Euro 2020 qualifying win away in Latvia as Poland sealed qualification for the quadrennial tournament next summer, Lewandowski turned his attention to the Champions League.
One of 3 players to score in each of the first 4 matchdays of this season's competition as Bayern Munich sealed their berth in the Round of 16 with 2 games to spare, the Poland international scored the quickest-ever quadruple in Champions League history as Bayern crushed Crvena Zvezda 6-0 in Belgrade to seal top spot in the group in some style.
With 51 goals and 11 assists in 53 games for club and country, Lewandowski is one of the leading contenders for the 2019 Ballon d'Or.
Also read: Is Robert Lewandowski on course for the greatest-ever season in club football?
#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona / Argentina): 62 (43 goals and 19 assists)
Lionel Messi's 21 Liga goals in 19 games since the turn of the year, which included hat-tricks away at Sevilla and Real Betis propelled Barcelona to their fourth Spanish top-flight title in 5 seasons.
After missing the first four Liga games of the new season due to injury, Messi's goal in Barcelona's 4-0 home win over Sevilla made the all-time Liga top-scorer the first player to score in 15 consecutive LaLiga seasons.
The diminutive Argentinian scored his 50th career freekick by scoring in a 5-1 home win over Real Valladolid. Continuing his scoring streak in a 6th consecutive LaLiga game, Messi scored his 34th Liga hat-trick to draw level with Cristiano Ronaldo for most hat-tricks in LaLiga history.
Two weeks later, Messi turned his attention to the Champions League where he became the first player to score in 15 consecutive seasons in the competition by scoring in Barcelona's 2-1 win at Slavia Prague. Two Matchdays later, Messi became the first player in the Champions League to score against 34 different teams by opening the scoring in a 3-1 home win over Borussia Dortmund as the Catalan club sealed qualification for the knockout round as group winners.
The only disappointment for Messi in yet another fabulous season was at the 2019 Copa America where the Argentina captain scored only 1 goal in 6 games as the Albiceleste fell in the semifinals to eventual winners Brazil, and of course, the infamous Liverpool comeback that knocked the Catalans out of the UCL.
With 43 goals and 19 assists in 51 games in 2019, Messi has had a hand in 62 goals for club and country, the same tally as Robert Lewandowski. However, Messi takes the second spot in this list as he accomplished his tally in 2 fewer games than the prolific Bayern Munich striker.
The Argentina and Barcelona captain has strutted his credentials to win a record-6th Ballon d'Or title. It's now for the jury to decide.
#1 Dusan Tadic (Ajax, Serbia): 63 (32 goals and 31 assists)
With 32 goals and 31 assists for club and country, Dusan Tadic has the most goals and assists by any 2019 Ballon d'Or nominee, narrowly edging out Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.
The Ajax captain scored 18 goals and provided 8 assists since the turn of the year, en route to a league-high 34-goals to lead his side to the Eredivisie title. Tadic scored and provided 2 assists as Ajax won 4-1 at Real Madrid in the 2018-19 Champions League Round of 16 to oust the three-time defending champions.
Tadic's 7 goals this season sees him 3 short of league top-scorer Quincy Promes. However, his 11 assists have played a significant part in Ajax leading the Eredivisie by 6 points after 14 games.
The Serbian attacking midfielder's 31 assists in all competitions this season is the most by any 2019 Ballon d'Or nominee, seven ahead of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne's 24 apiece.
