At the end of the first matchday of the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Real Madrid scored two goals in a row after falling behind 3-4 on aggregate to defeat Chelsea 5-4 to advance, while Bayern were tied 1-1 at home by Villarreal to make it 1-2 on aggregate.
Levan, who scored 13 goals in the Champions League, was originally the biggest favourite for this year's Ballon d'Or. But his team was knocked out by Villarreal, and after stopping in the quarterfinals for two consecutive seasons, he basically said goodbye to the Ballon d'Or.
Like Levan, who basically withdrew from the Ballon d'Or competition, there are Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are already out of the Champions League quarter-finals.
After the quarter-finals, Benzema was already the second favourite for the Ballon d'Or, after Levan. Now Bayern are out and Real Madrid have reached the top 4, so Benzema has undoubtedly replaced Levan as the biggest favourite for the Ballon d'Or.
At present, compared with Levan, Benzema's advantage is more obvious. First of all, in terms of Champions League goals, Levan is ranked 1st with 13 goals, but Benzema also scored 12 goals, and the two sides are only 1 goal apart, but Benzema still has a chance to continue to score, and Levan has no chance. And Benzema wore a hat + 7 goals in three consecutive games in the knockout rounds, which is much higher than Levan.
Speaking of championship level, Bayern and Real Madrid have not had much of a problem winning the league this season, but Benzema has won the top scorer and assist king with 24 goals and 11 assists in La Liga, which is much more comprehensive than Levan's 32 goals and 1 assist, which also proves that Benzema's ability to lead the team is stronger than Levan. In the most important Champions League, Bayern are out, while Real Madrid are still competing for the title.
At present, Benzema's biggest opponents are only two left, they are Salah and De Bruyne. Compared with Levan, Salah and De Bruyne are not very sure if they can win the league title, because their Liverpool and Manchester City are actually only 1 point apart, and there is still a huge suspense in the Premier League title. Compared with De Bruyne, Salah's advantage is that he already has a League Cup title in hand and has beaten the opponent with 20 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League; while Salah's disadvantage is the recent sluggish performance, the national team has lost the African Cup of Nations and missed the World Cup finals.
The Ballon d'Or selection mechanism has been changed, and the performance of players in the World Cup is not within the scope of reference, so the Champions League champions are likely to become this year's Ballon d'Or winners. Nine of the last 14 Ballon d'Or Awards have been awarded to players of Champions League champions. Of course, the last two Ballon d'Or winners, Lionel Messi, have not won the Champions League, and his team has stopped in the Champions League semi-finals and round of 16 respectively. If Villarreal wins the title miraculously, Benzema's golden ball should be more convincing than De Bruyne and Salah.