2020 Ballon d'Or Odds: Who Has Been the Best in Europe This Season?

The debate as to who is the best player in the world has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for over a decade and whilst this seems to be coming to an end, the two leaders of the game are still in the mix.

In recent years, more players have been gaining recognition as the best around and with Liverpool reclaiming their throne, the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have been unfortunate not to win the famous Ballon d'Or.

Here, as Bayern go for a Treble while Real Madrid topples Barcelona, just as Paris Saint-Germain win another league title, we look at who has been the best in Europe this season.

*All statistics are as of July 8*

Kevin De Bruyne is arguably the best player to have ever played for Manchester City. A bold statement, but he is certainly up there with Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany after his achievements in recent years.

The Belgian maestro has accumulated 20 assists and 13 goals in all competitions from 41 fabulous appearances thus far. 17 of these assists have come in the league, which puts him just three behind Thierry Henry's Premier League record 20 in a season, and should he break this, a PFA Player of the Year award surely awaits.

Not many out there will argue against De Bruyne's claim to being the very best around in his position this season. At the same time, the City star has even been thrown into the mix with Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, lately, on the greatest passer we've ever witnessed in England.

A true magician. A man who is potentially set to snatch every individual award in England and, at the very least, make his way into the FIFA World XI above any midfielder.

Robert Lewandowski has had his best season in front of goal in what is turning out to be one of the most astonishing careers in German football history. The Bayern Munich striker has bagged a record-breaking 34 Bundesliga goals in 31 appearances this season, surpassing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's most goals by a foreign player in a season of 31.

The Polish superstar also broke the Bundesliga record for scoring in the most consecutive matches, by netting 16 goals in each of the first 11 games of the season. Now, with the German season finished, Lewandowski will head into the Champions League with an unrivalled 51 goals in all competitions, with 11 of them coming in Europe, as he leads the goalscoring chart with an astonishing 48 minutes per goal.

Nowadays, it's absolutely no surprise that he is often being compared with the great Gerd Muller - the fourth greatest goalscorer in European history who also has the most goals in German football's records.

Simply put, Lewandowski has gobbled up everything that has come his way this year, and he has been the difference between Bayern winning the domestic double this season; the 31-year-old even netted twice in the recent DFB-Pokal final.

The striker has been the best in the land in front of goal this season and as Bayern lead the way for the Champions League title at 11/4, it's near impossible to look past Lewandowski if he helps seal another Treble for the German giants.

Kylian Mbappe has shown that he has been destined to become a superstar since he burst onto the scene for Monaco in the 2016/17 season and the Frenchman is now looked at as the natural heir to the Ronaldo and Messi dominance.

The 21-year-old holds the record as the most expensive teenager in the game after moving to PSG in a loan-to-buy deal worth €180m, and since then, he has become one of the world's very best and a Ballon d'Or trophy is surely not too far away.

Indeed, if Mbappe is to win the prestigious title, a move away from PSG might be needed. Only one man has ever won the Ballon d'Or in France- Jean-Pierre Papin of Marseille in 1991. Since then, La Liga and Serie A has dominated the charts, with the odd winner from the Premier League and the Bundesliga.

This season, however, the World Cup winner has bagged 30 goals from 33 games for the French giants and thus won the Ligue 1 title for a fourth consecutive year in his career.

Mbappe has only played the 33 games due to French football's cancellation back in April, thus keeping his numbers far from those which the elite names have accumulated this campaign. Plus, playing for PSG tends to cut his achievements in half, as the club wins Ligue 1 every year with ease.

The France superstar is now 16/1 to win the Ballon d'Or and truthfully, the season cut short has ruined his chances entirely, despite the fact he is still in the Champions League with PSG.

Now at the age of 33, Messi has not yet lost his clinical touch in front of goal by netting 27 times in 38 games, as of July 8. Furthermore, 22 of these goals have come in La Liga, which has all but guaranteed him a record seventh top scorer award in Spain, edging him past his and Telmo Zarra's record of six.

To make matters slightly worse, however, it does look as if Messi and his underperforming Barcelona teammates will lose their La Liga crown to Madrid. The Argentine did only win the league title last year on route to winning a record sixth Ballon d'Or, although, his numbers were out of this world, with 51 goals and 20 assists.

This campaign, Messi has reached 20 assists in La Liga alone, which equals his own record and puts him two behind former colleague, Xavi, who sits with a record 22 in one season. So, whilst his goals are far from what they have been in recent times, his playmaking talents only seem to get better as he constantly carries this Barcelona side.

The Blaugrana are far from what they once were and Messi's talent is now becoming more evident as his teammates fail to pull their weight, forcing the Argentine's magic to become more powerful.

With this said, others on this list - including his nemesis Ronaldo - have outscored him this campaign, although, Messi's goal involvements is only topped by Lewandowski.

Whilst practically every man on earth would be happy with his numbers, Ronaldo's first season at Juventus was marginally below par by his very high standards, netting just the 21 Serie A goals from 31 appearances.

However, the Portuguese superstar has bagged a superb 30 goals so far, including 26 in 27 in Italy's top-flight, and, therefore, put him on course to register his best turnover since netting 35 in 36 La Liga games in 2015/16

Ronaldo is also on route to registering back-to-back Serie A titles, which means he would have won at least two league titles in three of Europe's major leagues. The former Madrid star is once again still in the Champions League mix, and if Juventus can overturn their 1-0 deficit against Lyon, they will be in serious contention.

Although, similarly to Mbappe, Ronaldo winning Serie A with the Old Lady is merely an expectation rather than a celebration and it is not worthy of a sixth Ballon d'Or crown in itself. However, with seven league games left and a Champions League to play for, Ronaldo could bag a famous double for Juventus and continue to rack up the goals.

But like Messi, the 35-year-old is still far from the ridiculous numbers of Lewandowski this campaign.