Real Madrid Forward Kylian Mbappe Finishes Second in Ballon d'Or Voting

Although it was not the season that anybody at Real Madrid wanted last time out, forward Kylian Mbappe still had an excellent season across the board. 

He was the top scorer in La Liga with 25 goals, as well as the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League, with 15 goals. Then, to top things off, he was the top scorer at the FIFA World Cup, with 10 goals, and in the process became the competition's record ever goalscorer, with 22 strikes. 

As a result, he was recognised with a second place finish in the Ballon d'Or voting. Now, this may seem a bit harsh on the face of it, after all he was the top scorer in every single competition he played in, as mentioned above. 

But, ultimately, the winner Harry Kane did score 73 goals in all competitions for club and country, numbers that have only been bettered - once - by the great Lionel Messi in the modern era.

Furthermore, some of Mbappe's numbers were inflated by penalties, in fact he actually scored fewer non penalty goals in La Liga than Vedat Muriqi. A lot of his goals in the Champions League came against the likes of Olympiacos and Kairat in the league phase, and he was ultimately knocked out by Kane. 

Finally, although it is an individual award, team success is part of the criteria, and Real Madrid as well as France failed to win anything, so that counts against him, even if it isn't his fault. 

Still, it was another very good year, and getting on the podium is still a great achievement. As for the other Real Madrid players, Jude Bellingham finished in 11th place, Vinicius in 17th place, and Marc Cucurella one spot behind in 18th - albeit his body of work was with Chelsea and the Spain national team. 

It is clear that - like with any other player - it is a dream for Mbappe to one day win this much coveted award. He is certainly making a good start to trying to do so again this year - he has already scored 14 goals in just 13 games (as well as 1 in 1 for France), and scored two goals to decide El Clasico - the biggest game of the season so far - on Sunday evening. 

Many congratulations to all four Real Madrid players for making the final list of nominees. Let's hope for more this time round.