Real Madrid Returned Empty-Handed From The Ballon d'Or Gala
Real Madrid left the Ballon d'Or empty-handed with seven nominees, no awards and Mbappé's second place as their best result
Real Madrid had seven of its current players nominated across the different categories at the 70th Ballon d'Or gala, held this Monday in London, and won none of the awards, with Kylian Mbappé's second place in the men's best player category as their best result.
The Frenchman, who scored 58 goals and provided 13 assists in 60 matches for France and the white club last season, finished second behind England's Harry Kane, the season's top scorer with 73 goals, who was also recognized with the Gerd Müller award for that achievement.
Kane had the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the German Super Cup to his name, as well as more goals in the knockout stages of a Champions League in which he reached the semifinals. Mbappé, although he was the top scorer in the 'Champions' overall, only reached the quarterfinals, and did not win silverware in any domestic competition. His historic World Cup goalscoring record, surpassing Messi, was not enough to close that gap in the eyes of the voters.
The rest of the Madrid nominees
The other Real Madrid nominees in this category finished outside the top 10. England's Jude Bellingham was eleventh thanks to his 10 goal contributions for the white club during the season and his 7 goals for England at the World Cup, one more than Kane. Vinícius finished seventeenth, after 22 goals and 9 assists; and Cucurella, who played for Chelsea last season, was eighteenth.
The other Madrid player who reached the podium in one of the ceremony's categories was Thibaut Courtois, in the men's best goalkeeper category. He finished third, behind Spain's Unai Simón, of Athletic Club, and David Raya, of Arsenal.
In the men's and women's best young player categories, Real Madrid had two of its new signings nominated. Yan Diomande, who was at Leipzig last season, and Felicia Schröder, champion of the Swedish league and the Europa Cup (the second-tier European women's competition) with Häcken, finished fifth.
Barcelona, the big winner of the night
For her part, Scotland's Caroline Weir, who left the white club this summer as the team's all-time top scorer, finished 25th in the women's Ballon d'Or. She now plays for Olympique de Lyon.
Barcelona was the big winner of the night. It was recognized in the categories of best women's club, best young men's player (Lamine Yamal), best young women's player (Vicky López), best women's goalkeeper (Cata Coll), best women's coach (Pere Romeu) and best women's player (Alexia Putellas, although she now plays for London City Lionesses). EFE
