The contenders
Barring a major collapse from either of the duo at the start of the 2019/20 season, this year’s Ballon d’Or is likely to be contested primarily by Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Most bookmakers, including Sky Bet, currently have Messi as the favourite to win the award, with his odds around 5/6.
Virgil van Dijk is a close second, however, with his odds currently around 10/11.
The third favourite, as of writing on June 4 , is Mohamed Salah. But his odds are well away from VVD and Messi at 14/1.
Elsewhere, five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo is joint-5 favourite to win the award in December, with odds of 25/1.
This isn’t too surprising, though, given that Ronaldo finished 4 top scorer in Serie A and Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals.
Juve did win Serie A, but they also did so in the past seven seasons without Ronaldo being there.
So, with it looking to be a two-horse race between van Dijk and Messi, how do the two compare?
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