World Cup 2018: 4 things that would have happened had Messi won the World Cup

#2. He would have been the frontrunner for this year's Ballon d'Or

Messi and the Ballon d'Or

Messi came into this World Cup on the back of a brilliant Individual season, which propelled Barcelona to yet another domestic double. But still, it looks like Messi is going to find it hard to mount a serious challenge for the Ballon d'Or in 2018 because Cristiano Ronaldo managed to win an unprecedented 3rd successive Champions League title.

Couple that with the fact that Ronaldo even managed to outscore him in the World Cup, where he scored 4 goals and saved his team from a certain defeat against Spain. Although the tally of 1 goal and 2 assists from 4 World Cup appearances is not bad by any measure, a lot was expected from Messi going into this World Cup.

But the one thing that is in Messi's favor is that all the probable candidates had an indifferent season where they found success and failure in equal proportions. Real Madrid's woeful domestic performances have somewhat hampered Ronaldo's chances while only domestic success is not going to help Neymar either.

Mohamed Salah's lack of silverware, coupled with a disastrous World Cup outing, is going to prove detrimental to his cause. So if Messi had won the World Cup this year, his chances for winning the Ballon d'Or would have skyrocketed, and it would have been difficult for any other player to challenge Messi for the prestigious prize.