Sergio Ramos might have his fair share of 'previous' with Liverpool but if he had his way, Virgil van Dijk would have won this year's Ballon d'Or.
The Real Madrid captain incensed Reds fans when his heavy challenge on Mohamed Salah forced the Egyptian out of the 2018 Champions League final with a shoulder injury – an incident that resulted in a string of subsequent back and forths.
However, the Spaniard may now have now become an unlikely ally for Kopites after Van Dijk missed out on France Football's prestigious annual prize awarded to the player judged to be the world's best.
The Dutchman missed out by a narrow margin to Lionel Messi this year, despite having more first place votes.
Indeed Ramos' team-mate at the Bernabeu, Croatian Luka Modric is the only player to break the Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly on the trophy since Kaka back in 2007.
Since then, Ronaldo has been awarded the Ballon d'Or five times while Messi has now received in on six occasions.
Ramos told AS : “They could create a Ballon d'Or just for those two [and award it to one or the other] depending on results, and another for the rest. It would be best for football.”
Based on Ramos' theory, here is a list of alternative Ballon d'Or winners: 2008 - Fernando Torres; 2009 – Xavi; 2010 - Andres Iniesta; 2011 – Xavi; 2012 - Andres Iniesta; 2013 - Franck Ribery; 2014 - Manuel Neuer; 2015 – Neymar; 2016 - Antoine Griezmann; 2017 – Neymar; 2018 - Luka Modric (won the actual Ballon d'Or); 2019 - Virgil van Dijk.
