The Spanish paper El Mundo Deportivo claims to be have gotten its hands on the 57 names that make up the shortlist for the this year’s Ballon d’Or.
That legendary Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was not one of the five goalkeepers on the list has sparked outrage in Italy, with the Juventus keeper admitting his disappointment.
Buffon, who helped Juventus to the Champions League final, defying expectations at the age of 37, was left out, while Arsenal No 2 David Ospina somehow made the cut
Ospina was joined by Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich, Thibaut Courtois of Chelsea, Claudio Bravo of Barcelona and David de Gea of Manchester United, leading Buffon to claim that he thought he was in the top five keepers in the world. But Ospina edged him out, presumably for his performances in the Copa America this summer.
The Italian press agrees with Buffon that he should have been included with La Gazzetta dello Sport saying
‘Everyone is with Gigi – what an own goal’,
while Corriere dello Sport publishes the keeper’s open letter in which he questions the decision.
Champions League finalists Juventus were also represented with nominations for Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba along with a few others, but.
The list as expected is dominated by Spanish clubs with Real Madrid and Barcelona once again leading the way with seven players each on the list, chief among them Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who are expected to finish one and two in the the competition for football’s top individual prize.
THE 59-MAN BALLON D’OR LONG-LIST
Claudio Bravo – Barcelona
Javier Mascherano – Barcelona
Andres Iniesta – Barcelona
Lionel Messi – Barcelona
Ivan Rakitic – Barcelona
Neymar – Barcelona
Luis Suarez – Barcelona
Gareth Bale – Real Madrid
Karim Benzema – Real Madrid
Sergio Ramos – Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid
Luka Modric – Real Madrid
James Rodriguez – Real Madrid
Toni Kroos – Real Madrid
Giorgio Chiellini – Juventus
Paul Pogba – Juventus
Alvaro Morata – Juventus
Arturo Vidal – Juventus/Bayern
Andrea Pirlo – Juventus/NYCFC
Carlos Tevez – Juventus/Boca
Robert Lewandowski – Bayern
Arjen Robben – Bayern
David Alaba – Bayern
Thomas Muller – Bayern
Manuel Neuer – Bayern
Wilfried Bony – Manchester City
Yaya Toure – Manchester City
Sergio Aguero – Manchester City
Nicolas Otamendi – valencia/Manchester City
Kevin de Bruyne – Wolfsburg/Manchester City
Diego Costa – Chelsea
Willian – Chelsea
Thibaut Courtois – Chelsea
Eden Hazard – Chelsea
Edinson Cavani – PSG
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – PSG
Javier Pastore – PSG
Wayne Rooney – Manchester United
David de Gea – Manchester United
Memphis Depay – PSV/Manchester United
David Ospina – Arsenal
Alexis Sanchez – Arsenal
Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid
Jackson Martinez – Porto/Atletico Madrid
Carlos Bacca – Sevilla/AC Milan
Giovani dos Santos – Villarreal/LA Galaxy
Phillippe Coutinho – Liverpool
Son Heung-Min – Leverkusen/Tottenham
Christian Atsu – Everton/Bournemouth
Paolo Guerrero – Flamengo/Corinthians
Eduardo Vargas – QPR/Hoffenheim
Gary Medel – Inter
Harry Kane – Tottenham
Alexandre Lacazette – Lyon
Andres Guardado – PSV
Carlos Sanchez – River Plate
Andre Ayew – Marseille/Swansea
Massimo Luongo – Swindon/QPR
Shinji Okazaki – Mainz/Leicester
