Scissoring the Ballon d'Or

The colossal tie between PSG and Bayern not only marked the path of each other in the competition, but also that of their stars in the race to the Ballon d'Or. The elimination of Bayern, current champions, at the hands of the runners-up Parisians and a very serious alternative to succeeding them, it greatly diminishes the options of any player in the Bavarian team and nevertheless triggers those of the main PSG footballers. All this can be reduced to three names: Robert Lewnadowski, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar.

The unpleasant note of the tie is in the Polish striker of Bayern. An injury put him out of action for the double duel against the Parisians and such misfortune turned out to be decisive for his team to be eliminated. It must be remembered that Lewandowski long deserved the Ballon d'Or last year, but the annulment of the trophy as a result of the pandemic clearly harmed him. This year things are not going so well. The Bayern is out of the Champions League and Pokal. Even if it reaches the Bundesliga, which seems obvious, it will be little baggage, especially considering that Poland has few options to do something important in the Eurocup.

The other side of the coin

On the other hand, the smiles of the PSG players after reaching the semifinals have Neymar and Mbappé as the main favored in the Ballon d'Or key. Both the Brazilian and the Frenchman have shone in the tie. Neymar gave a show in Paris and Mbappé did the same in Munich. Passing this round was key to continue having options to be enshrined as the best player in the world. PSG are still fighting for three titles, including the Champions League, which leaves them both in a great position. In addition, they can round off the year in the Eurocup and the America's Cup, in which they have options to be champions with France and Brazil.

What is clear is that the great dominators of recent years do not have enough chances to win the Ballon d'Or this year. Messi still aspires to the double in Spain that would give him some option, especially if he splashes it with a title in the Copa América with Argentina; Cristiano has more complicated. He hardly has any options in Serie A and, although he is a finalist for the Coppa, his performance at the club level has been poor. Perhaps his trump card is to win the Eurocup again with Portugal and reach the national team-level scoring record that currently has six goals.

The alternatives

Behind the squad of favorites, commanded by Mbappé and Neymar, appear other worthy ones who can take advantage of their great year to win the award. Karim Benzema is one of them, especially if Madrid manages to be Champions and League champions. In Manchester City there may be some other option like De Bruyne, who can still win the Premier, Champions and Euro Cup. It is more difficult to find candidates at Chelsea, despite their great European season.