The Ballon D’or had some absolutely outrageous ballots this year

One ballot had Trent Alexander-Arnold as the best player in the world. TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD!

Lionel Messi won the men’s Ballon D’or this year, again, because he is and remains the best male soccer player in the world. That wasn’t all that surprising. People sort of tried to talk themselves into Virgil Van Djik having a shout, and good for you, people who did that. Otherwise, yeah, Messi is better than everyone, still. It’s not particularly close.

The Ballon D’or is a pretty silly affair. For years Messi and Ronaldo took turns winning it, then the soccer world got a little nuts and gave it to Luka Modric that one year, I guess just to switch things up a little bit.

What the Ballon D’or is wonderful at, however, is giving you a glimpse into the ballots from around the world. With these ballots, you don’t get to just get a glimpse into other people’s opinions about the game, you get to visit alternate universes, one in which Trent Alexander-Arnold is the best player in the world. (That is a real ballot this year.)

This is a spectacular world of magical thinking. I one day hope to meet the man, Hafitz Marikar of Sri Lanka, who believes that Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is probably the sixth best player on Liverpool, is the first best player on Planet Earth. I want to sit with Mr. Marikar, and have coffee, and ask him about other opinions he holds dear. Does he believe that fish can beat lions in a fight on land? Does he believe that the sun is smaller than the moon? Who is to know? He believes Trent Alexander-Arnold, TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD, is the best player alive.

Marikar rounded out his voting with Aubemeyang, Griezmann, Lewandowski, and Ter Stegen. This isn’t even some weird Liverpool fanboy thing. My man just thinks Trent Alexander-Arnold is the best player in the world.

Let’s get to some of the other ballots, via the wonderful James Nalton on Twitter, who you should all be following.

First, we have our Liverpool fans, and our goalkeeper crew. Shoutout another appearance of Trent Alexander-Arnold!

You also get to see some fun country pride slipped in. Serbia’s voter slipped Dušan Tadić, though he had the respectability to put him into the four spot.

Nalton’s feed has some other good ones, but honestly, we’re really just here to stand and applaud Hafitz Marikar, who is either living in an alternate reality or is one sane man in an insane world.

Look at his last three years:

Bonucci in 2017? No Messi … anywhere? Ronaldo only one shout, last year, in … fourth? This man lives his own reality, and I salute him for it.

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