After Raheem Sterling finished 12th in the Ballon D’Or’s official rankings for last season, with usual suspect Lionel Messi going on to win the coveted award, loads of Manchester City fans are questioning the validity of the prize given the Englishman’s huge achievements.
As well as scoring 17 goals and assisting 10 others in the Premier League alone, Sterling scored the winning penalty in a Carabao Cup final shoot-out against Chelsea and a brace in the FA Cup final 6-0 dismantling of Watford.
Along with helping to dominate the English leagues, his record on the European stage is also very impressive – bagging five goals and two assists in ten Champions League outings last season – including a would-be dramatic winner in the quarter-finals against Spurs had VAR not ruled it out for marginal offside.
Indeed, City supporters may have a case for the 24-year-old – with a placement outside the top 10 seeming pretty debatable given his impact and overall improvement for the club.
Here’s how fans pleaded his case on Twitter.
It’s fixed
— Harvey Martin (@harv00yrs) December 2, 2019
not even top 10. what a disgrace!
— kouroug (@kourou_g) December 2, 2019
Not even top 10🤭
— ‘deji (@bobskino) December 2, 2019
*cough* rigged *cough*
— Josh Chapman (@JoshMCFCctid) December 2, 2019
Realistically what’s more important for a forward other than goal involvements 😂 in which he’s second😅
— Ben Henderson (@benhenderson2k) December 2, 2019
To be honest it’s City, i’m shocked FIFA allowed us 2 in the top 10….
— Moonbeams Little Sister (@MoonbeamsLittle) December 2, 2019
You see they changed the criteria every year… one year its the guy who has the best stats and the next year it’s the guy who’s won the most with his team.. and sterling definitely deserves to be in the top 5
— Hamid Asad (@hamid__07) December 2, 2019
