Ballon d’Or 2019 winner ‘leaked’ as Virgil van Dijk battles Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi and Virgil van Dijk are the two leading contenders for this year’s Ballon d’Or, with the winner set to be announced tomorrow

Posted Monday, December 02, 2019 by Dailystar.co.uk

An image circulating on social media is claiming to have ‘leaked’ the results of the 2019 Ballon d’Or.

The photo has Barcelona star Lionel Messi coming out on top ahead of Liverpool ’s defensive rock Virgil van Dijk.

Messi is the current betting favourite and, according to the image, he will best Van Dijk with 446 points to the Dutchman’s 382.

Mo Salah is supposedly going to come in third ahead of five time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

A third Liverpool star rounds out the top five, with Sadio Mane listed as fifth.

The rest of the top ten consists of Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, Dutch duo Frankie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt and Real Madrid star Eden Hazard.

Speaking about the award, Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard admitted that, although he is a fan of Messi, he thinks Van Dijk deserves it more.

“Yes, 100 per cent [it should be Van Dijk]”, Gerrard said.

“I’m Messi's number one fan, for sure. I love the player. Obscene numbers in his game in terms of assists and goals. I'm definitely a Messi fan, in the gang.

“But if you talk about consistency from one player over a year, who wins the European Cup and is absolutely faultless in every performance, that means you deserve to win the Ballon d'Or.”

Meanwhile, Van Dijk has said he is simply thankful to have been nominated, telling reporters: “Well, I think it doesn’t matter as you said already, we’ll see.

“I’m proud of what I achieved last year with Liverpool. I’m gonna be there for a reason.

“What can I say? We’ll see. There’s no loser there, there’s only a winner. I’m already very proud.”