Sky Sport Italia says that Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann will not turn up for the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday because they’re not expected to win.
Croatian Luka Modric is widely tipped to win after a leaked report last week confirmed as much.
Ronaldo’s not the only player who is going to be “washing their hair” that night. Atletico Madrid and France forward Antoine Griezmann is also staying home.
The suggestion is that Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may not even make the top three as a result of ordinary World Cup campaigns. Instead it’s two World Cup winners who are tipped to complete the top three – PSG striker Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane.
It’s not the first time that Ronaldo has found something else to do when he’s not been the recipient of an award. He did something similar for the Champions League awards ceremony after he discovered that Modric was going to pick up the top honour that night.
Modric has enjoyed a landmark year, starring for Real Madrid in their successful Champions League campaign then helping Croatia to the World Cup Final against France.
It’s perhaps no surprise that the Croatian icon is the odds-on 2/5 favourite to scoop the Ballon d’Or, ahead of former teammate Ronaldo at 5/1, Griezmann (8/1), Varane (10/1), and Mbappe (12/1), whereas Messi is the 20/1 outsider.
Either Messi or Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or in each of the last 10 years, bagging five apiece. In fact, you have to go back to 2007 for the last time either of the players didn’t claim the accolade – on that occasion Messi came 3rd, Ronaldo 2nd, and Kaka 1st.