The holy trinity 68
The disparager
Perceived importance? International tournaments are the most important part of a footballers career. They are infrequent and the ultimate big stage in terms of pressure so of course how players perform in them matters. Performing on the big stage is what matters most for these awards. Vini is in the discussion of course, but Brazil doing poorly in the Copa is a huge negative for him and puts him behind Rodri if Rodri wins the euros IMO. Those are the only 2 standouts currently.
You can win the EURO by only winning 5 games, maximum of 7. That is not enough or not really that important on deciding who is the best player over an entire 50+ game season.
Vini was basically a ghost for Real Madrid from August until January. Bellingham carried them. Real wouldn't have won the league at all if it wasn't for Bellingham scoring huge winning goals for months. Just because Vini had a very good second half of the season and had more vital goals and assists in the latter stages of the CL doesn't mean he had a better season for Madrid than Bellingham.
Bellingham did more for Real this season.
Also for Rodri, swap him for most CDM's in the PL and Man City 9 times out of 10 would have still won the PL title this season.
Man City only won the league and it is arguable that Rodri was or was not the best player for City. Bellingham won the league and CL double.
England are more likely than Spain to get to the final of the EURO and if that happens then Bellingham should be nailed on to win the Ballon d'Or.
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