Real Madrid got back to winning ways in the Champions League with a 3-2 triumph over Serie A leaders Atalanta, and Vinicius Junior played a starring role upon his return from injury with a goal and an assist from out of nowhere to turn a 1-1 game into a decisive 3-1 lead for the Merengues.
After Vinicius Jr. felt snubbed by the Ballon d’Or voters in the 2023/24 season, he is out for his revenge in 2024/25 with the path cleared after reigning winner Rodri suffered a season-ending ACL tear.
Where does Vinicius Jr. rank among the Ballon d’Or favorites right now? Do any Real Madrid players join him? And could the prestigious award be headed back to Barcelona amidst their attacking outburst under Hansi Flick?
Here are the updated top 10 rankings after 6 Champions League Matchdays have been played.
10. Bayern Munich Jamal Musiala
Jamal Musiala has picked up where he left off last season with another stellar campaign in 2024/25, scoring eight goals with three dribbles completed per game in the Bundesliga and 2.7 key passes and 2.0 dribbles completed per game in the Champions League.
The German international is almost impossible to dispossess and is so often the great equalizer for Bayern Munich in the biggest games. He has to compete with another superstar on his own team, Harry Kane, for praise, but anyone who watches Bayern with some regularity can see how he transcends the game.
9. Barcelona ST Robert Lewandowski
At the age of 36, Robert Lewandowski is still going strong and just might be the best striker in the world when you factor in his all-around impact both on and off the ball.
He is the primary goal-scorer for a Barcelona side that was on a record-breaking scoring pace at the start of the season, as he already has a whopping 23 goals between LaLiga and the Champions League.
Lewandowski gets hurt by the fact that Barcelona are such a free-flowing attacking side with so much that runs through the wingers, but he will be a Ballon d’Or candidate until the end.
8. Bayern Munich ST Harry Kane
When Bayern Munich play without Harry Kane, you can see exactly how much the No. 9 means to them as a central point and the man who cleans up all the chances.
Kane is the best pure finisher in world football – with all due respect to Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski – and with 19 goals between the Champions League and Bundesliga, he continues to show that here in 2024.
Of course, Kane is, like Lewandowski, a veteran of the game and an experienced all-around striker who is the best in his role at creating chances now that Karim Benzema has, ahem, graduated to the Saudi Pro League.
7. Bayer Leverkusen AM Florian Wirtz
Although Florian Wirtz is only 21 years old, he leads Bayer Leverkusen with such poise, confidence, and ruthless efficiency that you begin to understand why Leverkusen basically tabbed him as someone who was born for greatness.
A teenage sensation in 2019 who now has a handful of years of legitimate top-level experience under his belt, Wirtz has 10 goals and 5 assists between the Bundesliga and Champions League this season with 2.2 key passes per game in the Bundesliga and 3.0 key passes per match in the Champions League.
His playmaking can rescue Leverkusen out of difficult situations. If Leverkusen were more successful in the Bundesliga this season like they were last season, Wirtz would be in the top five, but given Barcelona’s rise and Eintracht Frankfurt’s own success in the German top flight, Wirtz faces stiffer competition.
6. Arsenal RW Bukayo Saka
Arsenal have been struggling at times this season, but Bukayo Saka is quietly having another outrageous season, perhaps the victim of the quiet nature of his excellence and his very unselfish, team-first playing style.
Saka shined again this past week against Monaco, scoring twice and assisting in a 3-0 win over the rising French side. The England international is so important to Arsenal that when he was injured, the club looked completely incapable offensively.
He has 5 goals, 10 assists, and 2.8 key passes per game in the Premier League, and I don’t think there’s a single wide player whose playmaking numbers come close to Saka’s this season.
5. Eintracht Frankfurt CF Omar Marmoush
If Omar Marmoush were in the Champions League, he’d be significantly higher on this list and might actually have a case for being No. 1. Marmoush has 13 goals and 7 assists in the Bundesliga this season as one of European football’s most productive players, needing just a couple of chances to win a game.
Look no further than his heroics with a double against Bayern Munich to take a point off the Bundesliga favorites, as he killed the Bavarians on the counter. Marmoush has been the biggest breakout star in Europe this season, and, statistically, the best player when taking into account his importance to an Eintracht side that has consistently hovered around second in the league behind only Bayern.
Marmoush has a goal contribution per game in his five Europa League starts, too, and you can see why clubs as big as Liverpool are pining after the Egyptian international in 2025.
4. Real Madrid LW Vinicius Junior
Injuries have held back Vinicius Jr. statistically again this season, but when he is on the pitch, there is no mistaking the fact that he is the best overall player in world football right now.
As Jamie Carragher famously said on the Paramount broadcast, “Real Madrid thought they bought the best player in the world. They already had the best player in the world.”
Vinicius Jr. proved that again with a gorgeous assist and a well-taken goal against Atalanta. He now has 13 goals and 6 assists between the Champions League and LaLiga with a whopping 2.6 key passes and 3.0 dribbles completed per game in the UCL as the best all-around winger on the planet.
3. Barcelona LW Raphinha
Raphinha’s numbers are so eye-catching that they are almost unbelievable, especially since he had never performed at a truly world-class season before Hansi Flick took the reigns at Barcelona.
Now, Raphinha is a secret weapon and even better in the Champions League, working as a roving winger who playmakes and burns defenses from deep, stretching the field both horizontally and vertically as Flick’s tactical Swiss Army Knife.
The Brazilian forward is currently on 17 goals and 8 assists between LaLiga and the Champions League, averaging a jaw-dropping 3.2 key passes per game in the Spanish top flight.
Basically, take everything you can praise Saka for and then double it with Raphinha, who is scoring goals and creating chances as the most productive player on this vaunted Barcelona front three.
2. Barcelona RW Lamine Yamal
And yet the best player in Barcelona is none other than teenager Lamine Yamal, who has built on his performance as the actual best player at the European Championships this summer by forcing the issue even more against defenses.
Yamal’s status as the MVP of Barcelona has only been further entrenched by the fact that the Blaugrana looked listless in his absence due to injury/overload. He is the most talented player on a team filled with talents, showing the best one-on-one and creative abilities.
He has 9 assists in LaLiga already this season and averages at least 3 dribbles completed per game in both the Champions League and LaLiga. Vinicius Jr. had better keep a close eye on Yamal, because the Barcelona superstar is close to surpassing the Brazilian left winger.
1.Liverpool RW Mohamed Salah
Because Liverpool have been the best team in the Champions League and the Premier League this season and there’s very little disputing that assertion, Mohamed Salah almost has to be in first by default.
He shares a lot of the credit for Liverpool’s success with fellow forwards Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, as well as a supporting cast behind him that includes living legend Virgil van Dijk and breakout midfielders Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch.
Yet as impressive as all those other players have been for Liverpool this season, there is no mistaking that this is Mo Salah’s team. Whenever it gets close or the Reds need someone to bail them out with a winning goal or assist, Salah has been unwaveringly present
Salah has 15 goals and 12 assists between the Premier League and Champions League this season, tearing European football’s two most marquee club competitions to bits with nearly flawless execution.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.