Here's who Lewandowski thinks will win Ballon d'Or, with brutal dig over 'cancellation'

With just a day remaining for the Ballon d'Or 2022 awards to take place, football fans around the world cannot be more excited to hear who will be announced as the world's greatest footballer. A total of 30 nominees have once again been shortlisted for the biggest individual award of the year. From these nominees, star Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, who narrowly missed out on the Ballon d'Or award last year, has revealed who he believes will win it this year. However, he did seem to add a brutal dig as well.

Lewandowski opines who will win Ballon d'Or

While speaking to Movistar, Robert Lewandowski said, "(Benzema) is probably one of the favourites to win the Ballon d'Or. If they don't cancel it then he's probably going to win this Ballon d'Or."

The Polish international not only narrowly lost out last year to seven-time winner Lionel Messi but also failed to win it in 2020, the year when he was the favourite and when it was unfortunately cancelled.

With over 40 goals across all competitions last season, there is no doubt that Karim Benzema is one of the favourites to win the Ballon d'Or award this year. The Frenchman played a critical role in helping Real Madrid win La Liga last season as he scored 27 goals and provided 12 assists after just 32 league games. And that is not it, as his role in helping Los Blancos win the UEFA Champions League was also critical. He scored 15 goals after just 12 games.

Ballon d'Or 2022 nominees

Real Madrid 

1) Karim Benzema

2) Antonio Rudiger

3) Thibaut Courtois

4) Vinicius Junior 

5) Luka Modric

6) Casemiro

Liverpool 

7) Mohammad Salah 

8) Trent Alexander-Arnold

9) Luis Diaz

10) Fabinho

11) Darwin Nunez

12) Virgil van Dijk

Manchester City

13) Kevin De Bruyne

14) Phil Foden

15) Joao Cancelo

16) Riyad Mahrez

17) Bernardo Silva 

18) Erling Haaland

Manchester United

19) Cristiano Ronaldo 

Tottenham Hotspur

20) Harry Kane 

21) Son Heung-min 

Bayern Munich

22) Sadio Mané 

23) Joshua Kimmich

Barcelona

24) Robert Lewandowski

PSG

25) Kylian Mbappé

Borussia Dortmund

26) Sébastien Haller 

AC Milan

27) Mike Maignan

28) Rafael Leao 

RB Leipzig

29) Christopher Nkunku 

Juventus

30) Dusan Vlahovic