Atletico Madrid scoutEric Olhats initiallyclaimed Cristiano Ronaldo would easily win this year's Ballon d'Or, buthas now suggested there's still hope for his club's main striker Antoine Griezmann.
The 30-man shortlist for the world's best player award was announced several days ago but many believe it's a two-horse race between serialprevious winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 30-man list for the Ballon d'Or 2016. �
There will be only one winner! pic.twitter.com/bRtGQFFFYV
The two players, who are generallyregarded as the world's best, have competed with one anotherfor the trophy since 2008, dominating the award ever since.
Despite this,Eric Olhats, the scout who discovered Griezmann, believes that the French striker can upstage Messi and Ronaldo by being crowned the 2016 Ballon d'Or winner, despite previously suggesting that the Atletico striker had no hope of winning.
Full list of Ballon d'Or winners since 1990: Which Liverpool hero joins Cristiano Ronaldo? https://t.co/bcQWtFI4Hg
Olhats toldESPN:"I said on RMC, 'We will not have it, it will not be for us this year. It will be Ronaldo. But this phrase was taken out of context.I said that while explaining that Ronaldo would have if it was essentially based on the best of the year
"Antoine would hope that European journalists vote with a reasoning that goes beyond that establishing a ranking of players on the mere basis of their annual list.
"Fortunately, there are other criteria that come into play, such as individual performance.From there, we think he obviously has a chance. The Griezmann clan has certainly not given up."
Whilst the Atletico striker has had another successful year individually, hehas suffered double heartache from a team perspective,after losing both the Champions League final with his club, as well asthe European Championshipsfinal with France.
Griezmann will hope that this won't count against him thoughas judgement day for the Ballon d'Or is on December 13th. He will hope that it will be third time lucky after suffering those two agonising defeats.