Luka Modric finally broke the duopoly of the big two but is the Ballon d’Or losing its credibility?

Published at :December 4, 2018 at 12:47 PM

Modified at :December 4, 2018 at 12:47 PM

It is pretty clear that journalists and voters are now suffering from opinionated fatigue when it comes to Messi and Ronaldo these days.

In a Ballon d’Or ceremony marked by weird stage performances, some ridiculous standings and an extremely embarrassing sexist incident involving the first female winner of the award, Ada Hegerberg, Luka Modric had the last laugh. The Croatian, who survived a rough childhood plagued by war, misery and poverty took home the biggest prize in men’s football last night and became the only individual to break the hegemony of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time since 2008.

I, for one, personally believe that Luka Modric has had much better seasons than the one he had last year, seasons where he did not get even a whiff of the top three nominations and this coupled with some other strange decisions are leading to marked decline in credibility for the top individual prizes in the world of football. But we’ll come to that later.

The concept of football being an art-form and a means of expression by an individual has been around ever since the first people decided it was a good idea to kick a round-shaped object around. And make no mistake, last night in the vast-domed Grand Palais that was full of Parisian VIPs and celebrities in their gorgeous tuxedos and dresses, a quiet artist who left his talking for the pitch took home the iconic golden ball.

"As a kid we all have dreams. My dream was to play for a big club and win important trophies", said Modric after receiving the award from former French football player David Ginola. “The Ballon d'Or was more than just a dream for me and it is really an honour and a privilege to hold this trophy.” For someone who lost his grandfather to civil war and the chances of a normal childhood to violence and war, the Ballon d’Or was definitely the last thing on his mind while growing up learning to love the game he was so good at. Before he became the artist that he is now, Luka Modric was a survivor and it is not surprising to see where he gets that mental fortitude on the pitch and the down-to-earth humility off it.

Luka led his club Real Madrid to their third consecutive UEFA Champions League and was massively instrumental in his country’s surprising but magnificent run till the final of the FIFA World Cup in Russia, the final which France eventually won. And quite like his father who congratulated his son on his success via video last night, Luka brought calm to a side perturbed by chaos.

Ever since, Harry Redknapp moved him from the no. 10 role to the middle of the park and deep midfield, Luka has been instrumental in acting like a lighthouse for the teams he has played at. On the pitch, he offers his team the right direction, tempo, build-up, stability at the back and penetration. And even at the age of 32, Modric is still a fantastic athlete, a fact that was on show in Russia where Croatia had to stretch all its knockout games beyond the regular ninety minutes of football. Modric seemed effortless in jostling up and down the pitch continuously and he looked effortlessly graceful while accepting the award last night. Modric touched upon the note where he was grateful for the nomination and even mentioned other players, players like him (Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder) that were written off the chance to win individual awards simply because they were unfortunate to share the same world of football as the same time as Messi and Ronaldo.

What was also surprising and crazy about last night’s ceremony was the fact that the winner list was leaked online hours before they were actually announced on stage. In a night that celebrated the triumph of French football in Russia (the Ballon d’Or is awarded by France Football) at every opportunity it could get, Ada Hegerberg winning the first Ballon d’Or for women and then inspiring young girls by asking them to believe in their dreams and themselves struck a heartfelt chord.

It didn’t last for long, however. The beautiful moment was quickly marred by disgrace when the co-host of the night, DJ Martin Solveig asked Ada if she could twerk (yes, you read that right) in what he thought was an appropriate joke to make, dropping Kylian Mbappe’s jaw and with it, the rest of the world’s. This extremely embarrassing and disgusting incident sparked an outrage among sports enthusiasts and rightly so, on the grounds that sexism was still so prevalent and rife in sports.

Such a shameful incident, coupled with some ridiculous facts like Karim Benzema finishing as the 17th best player in the world, Thibaut Courtois winning the best goalkeeper of the year award, Eden Hazard finishing above Kevin De Bruyne and Lionel Messi of all people (who in many people and certainly in my personal opinion had the best season for an individual footballer last year) finishing fifth on the podium led to long debated discussions on the parameters on how these individual awards are dished out. Also, how does it even make sense to recognise an individual in a team sport and how are the decisions made? Does it go to the best individual player or the most important player in the side that has won the most trophies because clearly, there is a general inconsistency and lack of precedent.

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Taking nothing away from Luka Modric, who was the most-worthy candidate from the men who finished top three last night, it is pretty clear that journalists and voters are now suffering from opinionated fatigue when it comes to Messi and Ronaldo these days. And that is an even bigger compliment to the greatness of those two individuals who have ruled the sport for the entirety of the last decade that people are actually tired of them winning everything. Lionel Messi had the best campaign for an individual last season and chalked up crazy numbers in goals, assists, dribbles and contributions like he does every year and led Barcelona to a domestic double.

Cristiano Ronaldo, while being extremely quiet in the first half of the season, came back to life in the latter stages of the season and was stellar in leading Real Madrid to the third straight Champions League victory. And if these achievements do not warrant a Ballon d’Or, then French Football as a media-house should also apologise to Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Wesley Sneijder who finished their careers without winning the top prize despite having equally phenomenal seasons in the Messi-Ronaldo era, and I daresay if not better than what Luka Modric had last year. Lack of precedent and consistency? Clearly.