2018 Ballon d’Or: Messi finishes in fifth place

Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi, finished in fifth place in this year’s Ballon d’Or rankings.

It is the first time Messi will fail to make the top three since 2007.

France’s World Cup heroes Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe, appear to have collected enough votes to overtake the Argentine, who won LaLiga and the Copa del Rey in 2018, but was unable to make an impact in the Champions League or in Russia.

Barca crashed out of the European competition at the quarter-final stage, while Argentina were knocked out of the World Cup by an Mbappe-led France in the second round.

Nevertheless, Messi is on 45 goals from 50 appearances for club and country in 2018, though he has not featured for the latter since the World Cup.

This season, he has netted 15 times and made eight assists in 16 games in all competitions.

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