Luka Modric beats Ronaldo, Griezmann, Mbappe & Messi to 2018 Ballon d'Or prize

Luka Modric has beaten off competition from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi to be named the winner of 2018's Ballon d'Or.

The Real Madrid midfielder played a pivotal role for his club as they stormed to a third consecutive Champions League title, as well as captaining Croatia to second place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

With France having won the World Cup, Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and even Modric's fellow Madrid team-mate Raphael Varane had been amongst the favourites alongside the evergreen duo of Ronaldo and Messi.

However, the Croatian's exploits across the year - which included being awarded the Golden Ball at the World Cup - have seem him emerge ahead of the rest of the pack and become the first from his country to lift the award.

Indeed, Modric has become the first player to break Messi and Ronaldo's duopoly of the award since 2007, with Brazil icon Kaka being the last to lift the trophy before the Argentine and Portuguese stars collected five each across the following years.

Modric, who also won FIFA's Best Men's Player award this year, finished ahead of his former Madrid team-mate Ronaldo in the vote, making the Portuguese icon settle for second place for the first time in three years.

France star Griezmann took third place in the poll, with fellow World Cup winner Mbappe was close behind. Messi, meanwhile, dropped outside the top two for the first time in 11 years and came in fifth this time.

-Goal.com