These Reds could've won the Ballon d'Or if Messi and Benzema didn't exist

Many people in the football world believe that if Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (and now Karim Benzema) weren't around, Liverpool's Sadio Mané and Virgil van Dijk would have been the leading candidates for the Ballon d'Or. Messi and Ronaldo have monopolized the award for the past decade, with Messi winning seven times and Ronaldo winning five times. However, there have been other players who have been in contention for the award during that period.

In 2015, Neymar was considered to be a leading contender for the award after he helped Barcelona win the treble. In 2017, Luka Modric was in contention after he helped Real Madrid win the Champions League. And in 2019, Van Dijk was a finalist for the award after he helped Liverpool win the Champions League. On the other hand, Mané, was recently also the runner-up for the honor this year.

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The 30-year-old Senegal international played with Liverpool for six years. His speed and dribbling and his finishing ability helped the Reds. reached the Champions League final last year. His overall stats with Liverpool uncover how important he was.  He scored 120 goals in 29 appearances for Liverpool, including 23 goals in his last season. Mané has won numerous individual awards during his career, including African Footballer of the Year in 2019 and 2022.

Besides Mané and Van Dijk, which other Reds could've won?

Fernando Torres ended up in third place for the price in 2008, that year was dominated by Messi and Ronaldo (that year's winner). Unfortunately for him, he has far away in the votes. Ronaldo took 473, while the Argentine legend was voted 281 times. Torres only got 179 that year in which he scored the winning goal in the Euro for Spain's first victory.