Liverpool dominate Ballon d’Or shortlist

Paris: Dutch centre back Virgil van Dijk is one of seven Liverpool players on the 30-man shortlist for this year’s Ballon d’Or, with the Champions League winners dominating the nominations for France Football magazine’s prestigious award.

Van Dijk’s club teammates Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Georginio Wijnaldum and Alisson are also on the list, along with Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero.

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who have won the award 10 times between them, are included, but Messi’s former teammate Neymar, who now plays for Paris St-Germain, missed out.

Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris made the cut, but there was no room for their teammate Harry Kane, while Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba was another high-profile omission.

Shortlist

Liverpool — Virgil van Dijk, Roberto Firmino, Alisson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah

Manchester City — Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero

Tottenham Hotspur — Son Heung-min, Hugo Lloris

Barcelona — Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong, Marc-Andre ter Stegen

Real Madrid — Eden Hazard, Karim Benzema

Juventus — Cristiano Ronaldo, Matthijs de Ligt

Bayern Munich — Robert Lewandowski

Ajax — Dusan Tadic, Donny van de Beek

Paris St Germain — Kylian Mbappe

Marquinhos Arsenal — Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Napoli — Kalidou Koulibaly

Atletico Madrid — Joao Felix