Neymar Junior, star of Paris Saint-Germain and the Brazilian national team, has expressed his objection regarding the ranking of his fellow Brazilian, Vinicius Junior, the winger of Real Madrid, in the Ballon d'Or race. He tweeted on his official Twitter account: "Benzema is a great player, deserving of the award." He then added with laughing emojis: "But it's impossible for Vinicius to be in eighth place." Neymar concluded his tweet by stating: "Vinicius should have been in the top three at least."
Karim Benzema won the award for the first time in his career, while Senegalese Sadio Mane, currently of Bayern Munich and formerly of Liverpool, came in second, followed by Belgian Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City in third. Polish Robert Lewandowski, former Bayern Munich player and now at Barcelona, ranked fourth, with Mohamed Salah of Liverpool in fifth, and French Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain in sixth. Belgian Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid's goalkeeper, came seventh. Following Vinicius Junior, who ranked eighth, Croatian Luka Modric, also of Real Madrid, placed ninth, and finally, Norwegian Erling Haaland from Manchester City came in tenth.
