Lewandowski, Benzema, Mbappe: Who will win the 2022 Ballon d'Or?

The race for the 2022 Ballon d’Or is set to be one of the most open in years.

With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both nowhere close to their brilliant best at Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, we will almost certainly get a brand new name on the trophy.

At the time of writing, there’s no real frontrunner for the award, although that will almost certainly change after the conclusion of the 2021/22 season.

The new Ballon d’Or rules mean that only performances in the current campaign will be taken into account, rather than the year as a whole – which means the 2022 World Cup will have zero impact.

So, who’re the current favourites to take the lead in the race as we approach the business end of the season? Well, L’Equipe have named the quintet of players they feel will battle it out for football’s most prestigious individual prize.

Let’s take a look at the world-class footballers they’ve selected…

Benzema is enjoying the best season of his career and seems to get better with each passing week. He leads the way for goals AND assists in La Liga, while his performances in the Champions League have been exceptional. Benzema scored hat-tricks in back-to-back matches against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, which is some achievement.

Once again, Lewandowski is the leading scorer in a European football season. In Bundesliga action, the Pole has netted 32 goals in just 29 games, a record befitting of prime Messi or Ronaldo. The numbers are just absurd and if he can guide Bayern to Champions League glory, Lewandowski may finally get his hands on the Ballon d’Or.

De Bruyne is in terrifyingly good form right now and his performance against Liverpool last weekend was a footballing masterpiece. Similar to Lewandowski, if