Luka Modric Deserve to Win Ballon D'Or

Croatia's star Luka Modric made the last three nominees for FIFA Best Player of the year 2018 award and most analysts we spoke to or read in the media are saying the Real Madrid midfield maestro deserve to win the award this time around.

For the last ten years or more, the most coveted award Ballon D'Or for the World footballer of the Year, have been shared between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. And some school of thought has objected to the criteria, which seems to favor strikers and attacking midfielders, especially these two super stars that have exceptional skills in scoring lots of goals.

It seems goal scoring is a more measurable criterion than total contribution to team success.

One school of thought, probably spearheaded by Arsene Wenger, has the submission that football is a team sports with different departments and it's wrong to award an individual player as exceptional. What of players defending and midfielders providing the passes and creating the chances for these attackers to shine?

During the peak of FC Barcelona's reign, some pundits have argued that without midfield meastros like Andre Inesta and Fenandez Xavi, Messi couldn't have won all of those Awards. With the exceptional skills and achievements of Inesta and Xavi, none of these great players ever won Ballon D'Or.

The submission has sprung up again after Russia 2018 Fifa World Cup, where Luka Modric led Croatia to the epic finals with some incredible display of midfield prowess. It suddenly done on most football analysts that went back to recount Real Madrid reign for the last four years or so. And the part Modric played in making Ronaldo win Ballon D'Or four times with the spanish team.

Modric's outstanding performances at 2017/ 18 season both in Laliga and Uefa Champions League; as well as his showing more like a Super Hero in Croatia's fantasy run at the Fifa world cup, has earned him the last three norminees for FIFA Best Player of Year award. The list includes (Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohammed Salah and Luka Modric).

Most of the pundits we discussed with are of the opinion that Ronaldo and Salah did so well in their respective leagues and the Uefa Champions league, but not much to reckon with at the Fifa world cup.

Modric may not have scored as many goals as Ronaldo and Salah, but his contributions as the engine room of both Real Madrid and the Croatian national team stands him out in all competitions (sometimes difficult to quantify really). And this school of thought believes Modric deserve to win Fifa's Best as well as Ballon D'Or Award this time around.