Ballon d'Or: Karim Benzema wins award as best player in world football for first time

Real Madrid and France forward Karim Benzema has won the Ballon d'Or - awarded to the best footballer of the year - for the first time.

Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games as he helped Real win the Champions League and La Liga in 2021-22.

Lionel Messi (seven) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five) had won the award on 12 of the previous 13 occasions.

Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane, who was at Liverpool in 2021-22, was second ahead of Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne.

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas retained the Women's Ballon d'Or, awarded to the best best female footballer of 2022.

England Euro 2022 winner and Arsenal forward Beth Mead was second.

Premier League champions Manchester City, who had six nominees at the ceremony, were awarded Club of the Year ahead of Liverpool.

The Ballon d'Or is awarded to the best footballer of the year, based on performance over the 2021-22 season.

Zinedine Zidane (right) was the last Frenchman to win the Ballon d'Or First Frenchman to win prize since 1998

Monday's ceremony in Paris saw French F1 driver Esteban Ocon arrive at the Theatre du Chatelet with the Ballon d'Or trophy in a racing car.

Benzema is the first Frenchman to win the prestigious award since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Zidane was at the event to present his countryman with the prize.

"This prize in front of me makes me really proud," said Benzema. "When I was small, it was a childhood dream, I never gave up. Anything is possible.

"I'm really proud of my journey here. It wasn't easy, it was a difficult time for my family as well."

Benzema was the overwhelming favourite to win this year's award.

His 44 goals included a hat-trick in 17 second-half minutes against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and another away to Chelsea in the quarter-final first leg.

He also scored three more goals over two legs of the semi-final against Manchester City.

The 34-year-old, who has been at Real Madrid since 2009, is expected to play a key role for France at the World Cup in Qatar which starts on 20 November.

The Ballon d'Or is voted for by 100 journalists from around the world.

Warm reception for Haller

Borussia Dortmund's former West Ham striker Sebastien Haller, who has recently undergone chemotherapy for a testicular tumour, received warm applause from the audience when he walked on stage to present the Yashin Trophy to Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois for best goalkeeper.

Liverpool's Alisson was second, with Ederson of Manchester City and Chelsea's Edouard Mendy third and fourth respectively. Tottenham's Hugo Lloris was 10th.

The Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best performing player under the age of 21, went to Barcelona and Spain midfielder Gavi, who turned 18 in August.

Sebastien Haller on stage at the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, 19, was ranked fourth and England team-mate and Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka, 21, was eighth.

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski won the Gerd Muller Trophy awarded to the best striker after scoring 57 goals for Bayern Munich and Poland in 2021-22.

The inaugural Socrates Award, a humanitarian prize, went to Mane for his charity work.

Five-time winner Ronaldo ranked 20th

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the award in recent years, apart from in 2018 when Croatia midfielder Luka Modric won it.

Messi had already won the trophy more times than any other player and his seventh success in 2021 came after wins in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.

However, he was not nominated this time after an underwhelming first season at Paris St-Germain.

Manchester United's Ronaldo, who last won it in 2017, was placed 20th of the 30 players nominated, the Portuguese's lowest Ballon d'Or ranking since 2005.

Ballon d'Or results

1. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France).

2. Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich, Senegal).

3. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium).

4. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona, Poland).

5. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt).

6. Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain, France).

7. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium).

8. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, Brazil).

9. Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia).

10. Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway).

11. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea)

12. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria).

13. Sebastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund, Ivory Coast).

14. Fabinho (Liverpool, Brazil) tied with Rafael Leao (AC Milan, Portugal).

16. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands).

17. Luis Diaz (Liverpool, Colombia) tied with Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus, Serbia) and Casemiro (Manchester United, Brazil).

20. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal).

21. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur, England).

22. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool, England) tied with Phil Foden (Manchester City, England) and Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal).

25. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City, Portugal) tied with Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich, Germany), Mike Maignan (AC Milan, France), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid, Germany), Darwin Nunez (Liverpool, Uruguay) and Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, France).

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El Clasico: Karim Benzema and Federico Valverde star in Real Madrid’s win over Barcelona

 

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Carlo Ancelotti learned his lesson, and Real Madrid won the 'clásico' on Sunday (October 16). After an embarrassing 4-0 loss at home to Barcelona last season, the Madrid coach made sure he didn't try anything different with his team this time as Madrid won 3-1 to take the lead of the Spanish league.

It also handed Barcelona another painful blow four days after the Catalan club's hopes of advancing in the Champions League all but ended. Ancelotti had used midfielder Luka Modric in the "false nine" position in attack last season and Barcelona took advantage to rout Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

"I thought about what happened last season, when I tried something different," Ancelotti said. "For this match, I didn't try to come up with anything, I left the players in their positions and Modric played a spectacular match in midfield."

Karim Benzema and Federico Valverde scored first-half goals, and Rodrygo added another in second-half stoppage time as the defending champions won the first "clásico" of the season to move three points ahead of Barcelona in the league standings. The rivals had entered the match tied on points, with Barcelona ahead on goal difference.

It was Madrid's sixth win in the last seven "clásicos," with the only setback the 4-0 result the last time the teams met at the Bernabéu. Sunday's defeat was another frustrating setback for Barcelona after it was held 3-3 by Inter Milan at home on Wednesday to be virtually eliminated from the Champions League with two rounds left in its group stage.

"We had our chances, but we are going through a bad moment and nothing goes our way," Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández said. "We need to change this dynamic as soon as possible."

Barcelona didn't advance to the knockout stage of the Champions League last season, its first without Lionel Messi, but elimination this time would be extra disappointing considering the club went on a spending spree to boost its squad with players such as Roberto Lewandowski and Raphinha.

Lewandowski, the league's leading scorer, wasted his greatest chance in the first half, missing high from near the goal line. Barcelona dominated possession and created scoring chances, but it was Madrid that capitalized on its opportunities and took advantage of Barcelona's defensive struggles.

"We knew how to suffer when they controlled possession, but we were effective up front and scored the three goals," Modric said.

Benzema opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a shot from inside the area, off the rebound from a save by goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen in a one-on-one situation with Vinícius Júnior. It was Benzema's first goal in six matches. He also had a goal disallowed for offside in the second half.

Valverde added to the lead with a low shot from just outside the area in the 35th, with Ferran Torres getting a goal back for the visitors in the 83rd. Substitute Rodrygo sealed the victory for Madrid by converting a penalty kick in stoppage time after being brought down inside the area.

"We are very disappointed," Barcelona defender Jules Koundé said. "We didn't play a bad match but we made mistakes in transition in the first half and they took advantage."

Madrid was still without injured goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, while Barcelona was also hit by injuries and Xavi had to improvise Koundé as a center back. It was Madrid's eighth win in nine league matches, with its only setback a 1-1 draw at home against Mallorca in the seventh round.

Barcelona, whose only draw had come in the first round against Rayo Vallecano at home, entered the match having conceded only once in eight league matches.

(with PTI inputs)

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