Ronaldo and Casemiro on Ballon d'Or shortlist
The winner of the 2022 Ballon d’Or will be announced in a ceremony in Paris this evening, with Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Casemiro both named on the original 30-man shortlist.
With the results being released on Monday afternoon, Ronaldo finished in 20th spot, with team-mate Casemiro in 17th place, after his Champions League-winning exploits at Real Madrid last season.
Ronaldo scored 24 goals for the Reds in all competitions in the 2021/22 campaign.
Cristiano, five-time winner of the Ballon d'Or, was also named United’s Player of the Year after impressing in his first season back at Old Trafford, a year in which he also moved to the top of FIFA’s all-time top scorer list with a match-winning hat-trick against Spurs in March.
All 24 of Ronaldo's goals this season
In reverse order, watch every CR7 goal from the 2021/22 campaign...
The pair have both looked to continue their form into the current campaign, after being reunited at Old Trafford in the summer, combining for the winning goal against Everton two weeks ago.
This match-winning strike from Ronaldo was also the 700th of his illustrious club career, as the iconic Portuguese star added yet another individual accolade to his collection.
In the following Premier League fixture, Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle, Casemiro was named Reds’ Man of the Match, as the Brazilian starts to display the class and tenacity which instilled him as one of, if not the, best defensive midfielders on the planet.
The midfielder is starting to look more at home in a United shirt with each passing game, and will no doubt prove to be a key asset for Erik ten Hag this season.
The 2022 Ballon d’Or ceremony, held in Theatre du Chalet in Paris, will commence at 19:30 BST, where the top three will be announced.
For the very first time, the awards will be handed out based on a season, rather than the calendar year.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema is the favourite to come out on top, after leading Los Blancos to La Liga and Champions League titles last May.
A special on-pitch moment
Sir Alex Ferguson was at Old Trafford to present awards to David De Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo...
THE FULL LIST OF NOMINEES
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Karim Benzema, Joao Cancelo, Casemiro, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Sebastien Haller, Harry Kane, Joshua Kimmich, Rafael Leao, Robert Lewandowski, Riyad Mahrez, Mike Maignan, Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Christopher Nkunku, Darwin Nunez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Antonio Rudiger, Mohamed Salah, Bernardo Silva, Son Heung-min, Virgil van Dijk, Vinicius Junior, Dusan Vlahovic.