The 2021 Ballon d'Or will be absolutely fascinating to watch.
With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo almost certainly out of the running, football fans will get to see the first male winner outside of that star-studded pair other than Luka Modric since 2007.
However, the drama doesn't end there, because the situation is made all the more exciting by the fact that there isn't a clear favourite for the trophy as we enter the business end of the 2021/22 season.
Leading Ballon d'Or contenders
Plus, we're not that far away from having an exhaustive data set on which to make our judgements with France Football confirming this year that a series of major rule changes will be introduced in 2022.
Most notably, the judging criteria will now be based upon the previous season as opposed to the calendar year, which means that players only have a few weeks left to stake their claim on the trophy.
So, bearing that in mind, we wanted to look at the state of play here at GIVEMESPORT before some of the biggest trophies, such as the Champions League, that could inform the winner are wrapped up.
In fact, we really wanted to look at the Ballon d'Or title for the individual prize that it should be by looking at the statistics of who we consider to be the biggest male contenders in isolation.
Man Utd 1-1 Chelsea Match Reaction (Football Terrace)
Benzema vs Salah vs Lewandowski
And while personal choices for the winner might well be debatable, we like to think that it's beyond reproach that Mohamed Salah, Karim Benzema and Robert Lewandowski are the top three candidates.
Agreed? Ok, sure, you can't please everybody, but there's a swelling hype surrounding Salah and Benzema right now, while fans shouldn't forget just how incredible Lewandowski has been yet again.
And with the added bonus that all three players feature in broadly similar positions - yes, Salah is not an out-and-out winger - we couldn't resist putting their 2021/22 statistics to the test.
To do so, we've called upon the Squawka Comparison Matrix to compare all three Ballon d'Or contenders by their league output this season across what we consider to be the 33 most important data sets for a forward.
We've then toggled the 'per 90' filter to ensure that there isn't any bias towards players who have featured on the pitch more often than their rivals.
Soccer Football - Champions League Semi Final Second Leg - Real Madrid v Bayern Munich - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - May 1, 2018 Real Madrid's Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos in action with Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski REUTERS/Paul Hanna
Who has the best 2021/22 stats?
It's by no means a perfect system, but it's one of the most comprehensive and exhaustive ways that we can weigh up how Benzema, Lewandowski and Salah compare across the 2021/22 campaign.
So, without further ado, be sure to check out how the three leading contenders for Ballon d'Or glory are shaping up as we head towards the business end of the season down below:
- Opta Performance Index – Karim Benzema
- Games played – Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski
- Ball recoveries – Mohamed Salah
- Possession lost (fewest wins) – Karim Benzema
- Offsides (fewest wins) – Mohamed Salah
Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Manchester United - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 19, 2022 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring their fourth goal REUTERS/Phil Noble EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
- Goals – Robert Lewandowski
- Non-penalty goals – Robert Lewandowski
- Penalty goals – Karim Benzema
- Goals from inside the box – Robert Lewandowski
- Goals from outside the box – Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski
- Headed goals – Robert Lewandowski
- Direct free-kick goals – N/A
- Right-footed goals – Karim Benzema and Robert Lewandowski
- Left-footed goals – Mohamed Salah
- Conversion rate % – Karim Benzema
MADRID, SPAIN - MARCH 09: Karim Benzema of Real Madrid CF celebrates scoring their third goal during the UEFA Champions League Round Of Sixteen Leg Two match between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on March 09, 2022 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
- Shots – Robert Lewandowski
- Shot accuracy % – Robert Lewandowski
- Shots on target – Robert Lewandowski
- Assists – Karim Benzema and Mohamed Salah
- Chances created – Karim Benzema
- Passes completed – Karim Benzema
- Pass accuracy % – Karim Benzema
- Successful long passes – Karim Benzema
- Crossing accuracy % – Robert Lewandowski
- Successful lay-offs – Karim Benzema
Soccer Football - Champions League - Semi Final - First Leg - Manchester City v Real Madrid - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - April 26, 2022 Real Madrid's Karim Benzema celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Craig Brough
- Tackles made – Mohamed Salah
- Take-ons completed – Mohamed Salah
- Take-on success % – Karim Benzema
- Fouls won – Robert Lewandowski
- Penalties won – Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski
- Aerial duels won – Robert Lewandowski
- Ground duels won – Mohamed Salah
- Interceptions – Mohamed Salah
Final score
Robert Lewandowski - 12
Karim Benzema - 11
Mohamed Salah - 9
Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Bayern Munich v FC Augsburg - Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany - May 22, 2021 Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring their fifth goal Pool via REUTERS/Christof Stache DFL regulations prohibit any use of photographs as image sequences and/or quasi-video.
Lewandowski takes the win
Put some respect on Lewandowski's name.
With all the hype surrounding Salah and Benzema at the moment, it's easy to forget that Lewandowski is enjoying a third consecutive year of Ballon d'Or-contending form.
It's almost universally agreed that Lewandowski deserved the 2020 Ballon d'Or had it been presented and many fans believe that he should have pipped Messi to the post last time out.
However, fans of the Bayern Munich star can rest assured that he'll once again be in the hunt because his record of 48 goals in just 43 games this season really is mind-boggling.
And it's that goalscoring lethality that really gives Lewandowski some big wins in our statistical comparison, even if Benzema still held his own with right-footed goals and conversion rate.
Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - December 4, 2021 Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring their third goal REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO.
Meanwhile, Salah's convincing defeat in the data might suggest that he needs a late-season push to secure the golden football that looked almost certain to be destined for his hands at the start of the campaign.
But even if you want to turn your nose up at the statistics and make up your own mind, let it serve to show that we have an incredible Ballon d'Or race coming up if nothing else. We can't wait.