A raft of Liverpool’s Champions League winners, including Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk and Roberto Firmino, have been included on the Ballon d’Or’s 30-man shortlist, which will be completed later this evening.

Mane was among the first five nominees revealed by France Football on Monday, with team-mates Alisson, Georginio Wijnaldum and Trent Alexander-Arnold also being named.

Manchester City pair Sergio Aguero and Bernardo Silva made the cut too, alongside Champions League runners-up Hugo Lloris and Heung-Min Son from Tottenham.

Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has also been included in the 30-strong list, as have World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

So far, 20 players have been announced ahead of the ceremony on December 2 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, with Luka Modric breaking the Lionel Messi and Ronaldo stronghold on the trophy with his 2018 victory.

More to follow…

The full shortlist (so far)

Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)
Dusan Tadic (Ajax)
Frenkie De Jong (Barcelona)
Sergio Aguero (Man City)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)
Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (Barcelona)
Donny van de Beek (Ajax)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Alisson Becker (Liverpool)
Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Bernardo Silva (Man City)
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)

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