Liverpool Star Beats Out Barcelona Duo and Real Madrid Talisman in 2025 Ballon d'Or Rankings
Last month, there was a lot of controversy in the world of football when Manchester City's Rodri was awarded the highly coveted Ballon d'Or over Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr.
The Spanish midfielder had been key to Pep Guardiola's side winning their fourth consecutive Premier League title and in Spain's EURO victory.
However, in the lead up to the ceremony, Vini Jr was odds on favourite to win it - that was until the morning of the presentation.
News broke that Real Madrid were not sending anyone to the Ballon d'Or ceremony after they learned that the Brazilian forward would not be awarded the famous trophy.
This decision split the football community, with a lot of people beliving the Spanish side were right to make this move after the 'robbery' against Vinicius.
Others thought that it showed that Real Madrid were being unsportsmanlike and that they were 'throwing a tantrum'.
Neither Real nor Vini have publicly commented on not showing up to the award ceremony, instead choosing the route of complete silence surrounding the controversy.
2025 Ballon d'Or Power Ranking
Despite the award only being handed out to Rodri last month, there is already a Power Ranking for the 2025 Ballon d'Or.
GOAL, via centregoals on X, have named their top 15 in the race for next year's prestigious trophy and the front runner may come as a surprise to some football fans.
1. Mohamed Salah
2. Robert Lewandowski
3. Raphinha
4. Vinicius Jr
5. Jamal Musiala
6. Lamine Yamal
7. Erling Haaland
8. Harry Kane
9. Viktor Gyökeres
10. Kylian Mbappé
11. Florian Wirtz
12. Bukayo Saka
13. Cole Palmer
14. Omar Marmoush
15. Christian Pulisic
Barcelona and Liverpool have by far been the best two sides in Europe this season and the top three won't come as a surprise to people who have been watching both.
Mohamed Salah though has been on another level this campaign, being the standout star in Arne Slot's team which currently sit five points clear atop of the Premier League and are the only side with a 100% record in the Champions League league phase.
It is still very early on to even predict the Ballon d'Or winner for next season but if the Egyptian can keep up this form it would be hard to argue otherwise.
LFC Transfer Room Lead Social Media Manager & Editor. 6 years of experience in journalism & content creation.