Karim Benzema beat Sadio Mane to win the 2022 Ballon d'Or for the first time in his career.
The French striker was the odds-on favourite to claim the coveted award, having fired Real Madrid to Champions League glory at the expensive of Bayern Munich star Mane's now former club, Liverpool. The race was filled with footballing superstars, with Manchester City maestro Kevin De Bruyne and Barcelona ace Robert Lewandowski following in third and fourth respectively.
Current Liverpool sensation Mohamed Salah made the top five, beating Paris Saint-Germain 's Kylian Mbappe, who could well be playing for another club if he gets his way in the January transfer window. In seventh was Thibaut Courtois, who also picked up the Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper, having helped Real Madrid be crowned kings of Europe for a record 14th time in their illustrious history back in June.
In eighth and ninth place respectively were two more Los Blancos heroes, Vicious Junior and Luka Modric. And Manchester City striker Erling Haaland edged his way into the top 10 thanks to his heroics for Borussia Dortmund during the 2020-21 season, which the voting was based on. With that, previous winner Lionel Messi wasn't even nominated and Cristiano Ronaldo finished 20th.
And, of course, Benzema was a worthy winner and was presented the award at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on Monday evening by fellow Frenchman and Real Madrid legend, Zinedine Zidane. Upon receiving the award for the first time in his trophy-laden career, Benzema said: "To see this prize in front me makes me really proud.
"When I was small, all the work I did, I never gave up. It was a childhood dream and I had the motivation. I had role models in my life - Zidane and Ronaldo [Nazario]. I always had this dream in my mind that anything is possible. There were difficult periods where I wasn't in the French team but I never stopped working hard, I never gave up. I always kept in my head the joy of playing football."
Have your say! Did Benzema deserve to win the Ballon d'Or? Give us your verdict in the comments section.
2022 Ballon d'Or rankings in full
=25. D arwin Nunez (Liverpool and Uruguay)
=25. Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig and France)
=25. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City and Portugal)
=25. Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid and Germany)
=25. Mike Maignan (AC Milan and France)
=25. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich and Germany)
=22. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City and Portugal)
=22. Phil Foden (Manchester City and England)
=22. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool and England)
21. Harry Kane ( Tottenham and England)
20. Cristiano Ronaldo ( Manchester United and Portugal)
=17. Luis Diaz (Liverpool and Colombia)
=17. Casemiro (Manchester United and Brazil)
16. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool and Netherlands)
=14. Rafael Leao (AC Milan and Portugal)
=14. Fabinho (Liverpool and Brazil)
13. Sebastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund and Ivory Coast)
12. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City and Algeria)
11. Son Heung-min (Tottenham and South Korea)
10. Erling Haaland (Manchester City and Norway)
9. Luka Modric (Real Madrid and Croatia)
8. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid and Brazil)
7. Thibaut Courtis (Real Madrid and Belgium)
6. Kylian Mbappe (PSG and France)
5. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt)
4. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich and Poland)
3. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium)
2. Sadio Mane (Liverpool and Senegal)
1. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and France)
