Since Ronaldo won the World Footballer of the Year and Golden Ball awards in 08, world football has quietly entered the era of Mero's duo from the dominance of the crowd.
The most tragic thing about Mero's duo era is that its time span is too long, and it is about to drag the post-90s stars to death.
From 2008 to 2022, the 15th Golden Ball Awards, Ronaldo won 5, Messi won 7, Modric won 1, Benzema won 1 (vacant in 2020), all post-80s, and a group of post-90s who could have taken over Meroban were all oblivion. With the passage of time, the post-90s years are no longer young.
This is the luck of Mero fans and a tragedy for fans of other football superstars of the same era. Because these football superstars, who are much younger than Mero but no less good, can only compete for the embarrassing honor of "third in the world".
Let's take stock of the world's third man in the Mero era of world football today. They briefly approached the heights of Messi and Ronaldo, but without exception became shooting stars and flashed away. This confirms from the side how difficult it is to maintain the peak for more than ten years, and how great Meroe and the two are.
First, "Brazil Zhang Zhenyue" Neymar
Neymar, born in 92, is 5 years younger than Messi and 7 years younger than Ronaldo, the only Brazilian superstar who can be mastered after Xiao Ronaldo, and one of the representatives of the post-90s generation who was burned to death by Mero.
Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, born in 1992 in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, delicate footwork, good at playing flowers, strong playing ornamentation, playing style can see the shadow of samba on the big and small Luo, while inheriting the cynical attitude of the predecessors, just became famous and began to wave, so the state deteriorated, just over 30 years old belly and old age. was jokingly called "meat mar" by netizens.
In 2017, Neymar, who felt hopeless to win the Ballon d'Or, was unwilling to be a younger brother next to Messi, and chose to go away to set up another mountain, posing with Barça and coming to Paris Saint-Germain. His ambition is well known, that is, to lead Paris to the Champions League, and he can naturally raise the Ballon d'Or and replace Mero to the top of the world No. 1.
However, the ideal is very full, the reality is very skinny. It has been 5 years since Neymar defected to Paris, Paris is far from winning the Champions League, and Neymar's form is not as good as he was getting older.
Today, Mbappe in 98 and Haaland after 00 have become hot new stars in football, a new generation of "peerless double pride" has been born, and Neymar, who was once the third in the world and coveted the Ballon d'Or for many years, has gradually been forgotten.
The current Neymar, barely maintaining the standard of a first-class star in Paris, although wearing the number 10 shirt, is only the nominal boss, and the limelight is completely overshadowed by Mbappe. The fate of the Brazilian star's short peak has once again befallen Neymar.
Growing up in the Meroe era, it once reached the third height in the world, which can be regarded as the limit operation.
Second, "The First Guardian" Virgil van Dijk
Van Dijk (born 1991 in Breda, Netherlands) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a central defender and currently plays for Liverpool in the Premier League.
Standing 1.93m tall and weighing 92kg, Van Dijk stands out on the pitch in terms of physical condition. Cristiano Ronaldo, who is tall and tiger and wolf waist, has been fitness for many years and is one meter 85 tall, and has become a chicken boy in front of him in seconds, and he knows how arrogant this jun is.
In addition, Van Dijk's technique is also super-notch among defenders. Whether it's pulling onions from the dry in the box, or rushing forward points when plugging in a cross, Van Dijk can control the first drop point with his superior waist and abdomen strength and bounce height.
What's more, although he is tall, Van Dijk is physically energetic and agile. During his time with Southampton and the Netherlands, Van Dijk had many classic moments of starting from midfield and eventually breaking the opponent's single knife in high-intensity physical confrontations, which was a moving wall. The combination of tower-like bodies and aggressive defensive moves creates a crushing sensation that often makes opponents collapse without fighting.
2019 is the year when Van Dijk has the best hope of breaking the Mero Ballon d'Or monopoly on behalf of the 90s, but finally lost to Messi by a narrow disadvantage to achieve Messi's sixth Ballon d'Or.
As a much younger junjie than Mero, Van Dijk's peak period is logically still a long, long time, but in the past two years, Van Dijk seems to have suddenly fallen to the altar, and his state has declined more than Ronaldo, from the much-anticipated "world defense" to the "eye defense" and "ball retreat" that are sarcastic by fans, and I don't know what happened during the period.
Van Dijk is said to be staying for the World Cup and, as a fan, wants to see him perform well at the World Cup in Qatar.
Second, "Belgian Yang Kun" Aiden Hazard
Eden Hazard, born in 1991 in La Louvier, Belgium, plays as a left winger, a famous Chelsea club, and was reduced to waste after moving to Real Madrid.
In world football at the moment, you won't find a second player who treats a dragon dribbling as a matter of the day like Messi, and if there is anything close to that, it's Eden Hazard at his peak.
But this year Eden Hazard came and went, lying a La Liga winner and Champions League winner when the fans were about to forget him, and the parallel goods were transformed into a winner in life.
What makes Hazard special is that he does not exist as a potential world number one to challenge Mero's status, like Neymar or Salah, but a purely technical "world number three".
In his peak years, Hazard gave fans this impression:
The top three most expensive in world football today: Messi, Ronaldo, Eden Hazard.
The top three most technically technical in world football today: Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard.
The top three most famous in world football today: Messi, Ronaldo, Eden Hazard.
Hazard is only 1.73 meters tall, but the breakthrough is sharp, the dribbling and dribbling ability are very strong, the ball is relatively good, no fake fall, no diving, and rarely find referee theory, passing is very imaginative, serving as Chelsea's thigh in those years was given the reputation of "open hanging artifact" by fans.
Eden Hazard's wonderful shots of several people breaking into Longtan alone are second only to Messi, and he is one of the few stars who can conquer the audience with technology. If he hadn't been born in the Mero era, Eden Hazard's performance would have been strong enough to win the World Footballer of the Year or the Ballon d'Or with just his brilliant highlights, just like Da Luo did in '98.
Yet the reality is brutal. Today, although the sunset of the Mero era has not yet completely ended, Hazard, born in 91 and only 31 years old, has no desire or desire in Real Madrid like a semi-retired cadre, occasionally substitutes to show his face, and has long lost the heroism of the past.
This may be the fate of most Mero era stars!
Fourth, "Egyptian Messi" Mohamed Salah
Mohammed Salah, born in '92 in Basewen, Gabia Province, Egypt, is 30 years old and one of the heroes of the resurgence of Liverpool in the Red Army.
Salah is a rare football genius in Arab cultural circles, and his Egyptian team is an out-and-out underdog, a character that even Saudi Arabia can step on two feet.
Therefore, Salah's status in Egypt is quite high, I heard that it has been compiled into Egyptian textbooks and has become a national idol, the light of Egypt, similar to South Korea's Son Heung-min, Chile's Sánchez, and Chinese football a Wu Lei.
After Salah joined Liverpool, his career quickly took off. In his first Premier League season, he broke the single-season goal record held by Ronaldo and Suarez (32 goals) and won the Premier League Golden Boot. In the following seasons, Salah won the Champions League, the Premier League, and the FA Cup with Liverpool, and his popularity was also rising, and he was once considered the most likely person to break the Mero Ballon d'Or monopoly.
Regrettably, however, Salah's peak years were always one place away from Mero. On the one hand, Salah as a winger, does not reach Mero's dominance on the field, on the other hand, Salah's status in Liverpool is not too high compared to Mero, and the recognized thigh is Van Dijk when Liverpool won the Champions League in 19.
Today, Salah, who is over 30 years old, has begun to gradually enter the decline of his career, and the former "third in the world" has gradually become an unattainable benchmark.
However, Salah still has a chance, as long as he can follow Liverpool to regain the Premier League title and Champions League title in 23 years, a snow of this year's double runner-up regret, and Salah as the team's top scorer, the Ballon d'Or will definitely be in his pocket. But, it's too hard.
V. "Tintin" Kevin de Bruyne
De Bruyne (born 1991 in Deronne, Belgium) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a midfielder. He currently plays for Manchester City FC.
Manchester City, Belgium double core thighs, enough to prove everything.
Technically, Kevin De Bruyne can burst and shoot, balanced left and right feet, free kicks and long-range shots are very good, do not hesitate to be physical, and run aggressively. It can be said that Tintin is one of the offensive midfielders most in line with the development of modern football, and the front waist, central midfield, and full-back can play, and can play very brightly.
De Bruyne's pass is very similar to Xavi Iniesta at his peak, as if opening up God's perspective, the ball can come to the feet of his teammates very comfortably like a precision guided missile to complete the fatal blow, he is the world's top midfielder developed by Pep Guardiola after Habeth, and he was once the man who had the best hope of breaking Mero's monopoly and winning the Ballon d'Or.
However, De Bruyne's hard injury is the lack of personal honors and personal highlights in the competition, he does not have Messi's good play in the Champions League semi-finals to go through the dragon pool, nor does he have the Champions League knockout round like Ronaldo can achieve consecutive hat-tricks.
Although a few Premier League titles are enough, they are too flat and have no classic moments and explosive points of their own, which has led to his impression and popularity is not too good.
In addition, De Bruyne has two major hard injuries, one is as the core of Belgium, but Belgium has been without honor, and the other is tall, and the ability to protect the ball is obviously insufficient in strong confrontation, which is also one of the factors restricting his ceiling.
The only way for Kevin De Bruyne to win the Ballon d'Or this year is to lead Manchester City to the Champions League or, like Modric in 2018, to the World Cup final or even to win it, but this probability is relatively small.