The three offensive players are in the final but only one of them will get the award on this Thursday which will be announced at the Champions League group stage draw in Monaco.
The trio received the most votes from journalists among the 55 member associations of UEFA, overtaking Barcelona players Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. One thing is certain – Messi will not repeat his triumph from last year. Who, however, will celebrate on Thursday? Let’s look at the individual players.
Gareth Bale
Bale scored a goal for Real in La Liga on average every 92 minutes and played an important role in the victory over Atlético in the final match of the Champions League. He assisted Ramos on the opening goal and successfully scored his attempt in the penalty shootout. Then just a few weeks later he pulled Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016. For his national team, he scored 3 goals in the Euro and in particular, distinguished himself for his performance against Belgium in the quarterfinals.
But even though his statistics in La Liga were impressive, he omitted a large number of matches and therefore fell behind Ronaldo in terms of the number of goals – Bale scored 19 goals in 21 games and added 10 assists, while Ronaldo played 36 matches in which he scored 35 goals and added 11 assists to it. He gave a good performance for Wales but did not get into the UEFA team of the championship.
Antoine Griezmann
French player played in Athletico another good season, played 36 league matches and scored 22 goals, having finished just three points behind Barcelona. In the Champions League, he was again talisman for Diego Simeon and brought the club up to the final, where they felt short on Real Madrid.
On the Euro, he did even more. He shot twice as many goals (six), as the second best scorer and won the award for best player of the tournament, although France also, unfortunately, lost to Portugal in the final.
In La Liga’s scorers’ table finished in 5th place and although it was by far the best player in the club and in the national team, he did not win even single trophy with any team.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo enjoyed another great season, in which he surpassed 50 goals 6 times in a row. He was top scorer in the Champions League, where he tied a record number of goals in one year (16) and scored a decisive penalty kick in the finals. Finally, he lived to win a trophy in the national team when Portugal beat France in the final of Euro 2016. He has contributed with 3 goals and 2 assists.
From any of the trio is Ronaldo currently favored as the winner, but you never know. The ball is still round just as the globe.
source: skysports.com, foto: wikimedia.org