While many were not surprised by the draws of the respective clubs, the award for the best player in Europe became a matter of huge debate among football lovers.

Hot favourite Cristiano Ronaldo was snubbed, as the award went to former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric, as the Croat became just the third player after Franck Ribery and Andres Iniesta to break the decade-long duopoly of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

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So why then did Modric win it over the Portuguese?

First of all, it is very likely that the voters, which featured coaches and selected journalists, made their judgements based on the World Cup.

Although Ronaldo scored four goals in Russia, Modric was more influential by helping Croatia all the way to the final. Eventually, Modric won the golden ball, and that could have influenced the votes in his favour 9Mind you, it shouldn’t have because the award is based on the European season, which does not include the World Cup.

Again, it could have been that people are tired of seeing Ronaldo win the European Best Player award and just wanted to see a new face win it.

This is because, per influence in last season’s Champions League, Ronaldo should easily have scooped the award, and even Mohamed Salah would have been ahead if Modric.

While Ronaldo netted 15 goals in the tournament, Salah also scored 10, and guided Liverpool to the final, where they only lost to Real Madrid. Modric played his role too, but it’s clear that these two were more influential than him.

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The final reason why Modric beat Ronaldo to the award may perhaps be the latter’s departure from Real Madrid. Many believe that the Madrid media is very powerful and have been strongly behind Ronaldo’s previous wins.

But after swapping the Bernabeu for Juventus this summer, they seem to have switched their allegiance when it came to the votes. Tell me, how else would it have been possible that Midric got over 130 votes, with Ronaldo getting just 90?