Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi has won the Men's Ballon d'Or for a sixth time.
Tuesday 3 December 2019 09:01, UK
France Football have revealed the best players in the world in 2019, with numbers 28 downwards announced all the way to the Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi.
The cream of world football gathered in Paris to find out who will be crowned the 2019 Ballon d'Or winner, but ahead of that big announcement, France Football drip-fed those players in positions 28 downwards.
The first five players revealed were new Atletico Madrid playmaker Joao Felix, Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos and Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek, all in equal 28th, followed by Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
The next batch of players to be announced by the esteemed football magazine were Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly and Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen in equal 24th, with the Tottenham duo of 'keeper Hugo Lloris (23) and Heung-Min Son (22) next.
In joint 20th place were Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ajax playmaker Dusan Tadic, while Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold - who became the youngest player to ever appear in back-to-back Champions League finals earlier this year - completes a wonderful 2019 by coming in in 19th position.
Meanwhile, Barca's new forward Antoine Griezmann was 18th, behind another Liverpool star in Roberto Firmino, with Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt, City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, Real playmaker Eden Hazard, City forward Raheem Sterling and Juve midfielder Frenkie de Jong completing positions 30 to 11.
After a short delay, France Football then began revealing the top 10, with two City players in the form of playmaker Riyad Mahrez (10) and midfielder Bernardo Silva (9) the first names announced, followed by prolific Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski (8).
Next up in seventh place came Liverpool No 1 Alisson, who was also crowned the best goalkeeper in the world after winning the Yashin Award, with PSG striker Kylian Mbappe in sixth and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah fifth.
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane was named in fourth, before Messi pipped Mane's team-mate Virgil van Dijk and Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo to the 2019 Ballon d'Or.
