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Ballon d'Or 2014: It's 'Cristiano Ronaldo and 22 more', say Spanish newspaper AS

Spanish newspaper confident Real Madrid star will win award

Tom Sheen
Wednesday 29 October 2014 12:00 GMT
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Just like the bookies, Spanish newspaper AS are pretty confident about who will win this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Unsurprisingly the pro-Real Madrid paper have plumped for just one man, Cristiano Ronaldo, running the headline ‘Cristiano and 22 more’.

With the Portuguese star, who won the award for the second time last year, breaking Lionel Messi’s four-year strangle hold on the honour, already on 22 goals for the season and Messi stuck on nine, it appears as if they aren’t too far from the truth.

The best price on Ronaldo to win the prize is currently just 1.19, with some bookies offering just 1.14; while Messi is closest with a shortest price of 7.0.

Ronaldo is one of six Real Madrid players on the list, they are the most well represented club, while Germany are the most well represented nation, also with six.

Ballon d'Or shortlist: Gareth Bale (Wales), Karim Benzema (France), Diego Costa (Spain), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Angel Di Maria (Argentina), Mario Goetze (Germany), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Mueller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Paul Pogba (France), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Yaya Toure (Cote d'Ivoire).

Coach of the year shortlist: Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Real Madrid CF), Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus FC/Italy national team), Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Bayern Munich), Juergen Klinsmann (Germany/ USA national team), Joachim Loew (Germany/Germany national team), Jose Mourinho (Portugal/Chelsea FC), Manuel Pellegrini (Chile/Manchester City FC), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina/Argentina national team), Diego Simeone (Argentina/Atletico Madrid), Louis van Gaal (Netherlands/Netherlands national team/Manchester United FC).

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