Lautaro Martinez has been placed 20th in this year’s Ballon d’Or, although it could be argued that he deserved to be higher up in the list.
The Inter captain won the World Cup, Coppa Italia and was runner up in the Champions League all in the last 12 months. He also finished as Inter’s top scorer for the second season in a row and this season he has a ridiculous tally of 11 league goals in only 10 games. He has struck up a silky partnership with Marcus Thuram, months after his partnership with Romelu Lukaku recovered and later broke apart. On top of that, he also won the Supercoppa Italiana, scoring in a famous win over rivals Milan.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia being placed above Martinez is controversial considering that they put up similar numbers in terms of goals and assists but Martinez won so many more team accolades than the Georgian. While Kvaratskhelia did play a key role in Napoli’s march to their third Serie A title in history, Martinez was very close to potentially winning the Champions League, having already won the World Cup.
Karim Benzema is another player who debatably should not have finished above the Inter striker. Goalkeepers Yassine Bounou and Emiliano Martinez were both placed very high in the rankings after very good World Cups, but in the rest of the season neither set the world alight.
The Ballon d’Or rankings don’t mean much except for the actual winner of the award but nevertheless Lautaro Martinez can feel aggrieved that he only finished 20th.
Japtej Ghura | GIFN
