Barca lead charge as finalists revealed
European champions Barcelona had four players named among the ten finalists for the Ballon d'Or, or the European Footballer of the Year award, yesterday. The ten, shortlisted from an initial list of 30 nominees voted for by journalists, were revealed...
European champions Barcelona had four players named among the ten finalists for the Ballon d'Or, or the European Footballer of the Year award, yesterday.
The ten, shortlisted from an initial list of 30 nominees voted for by journalists, were revealed in alphabetical order on the France Football website.
The winner will be unveiled in the next edition of France Football magazine tomorrow with Argentina's Lionel Messi tipped as the favourite to succeed last year's winner, Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal.
Real Madrid player Ronaldo makes this list again this year with former Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney.
Four Barcelona players make the final 10 - Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Spaniards Andres Iniesta and Xavi and Argentina's Messi.
Former Barcelona player Samuel Eto'o, who moved from the European champions to Inter in the summer, is also among the finalists.
Surprisingly Liverpool's Spanish striker Fernando Torres has been left out of the final list.
Torres, the scorer of the winning goal for Spain in the 2008 European Championship final, had been expected to figure but finished in 11th position.
His Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard is among the finalists.
It has been a tough start to the season for Torres, who has suffered niggling injury problems and saw his team eliminated from the Champions League in the group stages.
The finalists
Drogba (Chelsea); Eto'o (Inter); Gerrard (Liverpool); Ibrahimovic (Barcelona); Iniesta (Barcelona); Kaka (Real Madrid); Messi (Barcelona); Ronaldo (Real Madrid); Rooney (Man. United); Xavi (Barcelona).