🏆 Ballon d'OneFootball: And in 6th place is ... | OneFootball

Welcome to the third annual edition of the Ballon d’OneFootball as we continue our countdown of the top 25 players in the world.

Click right here to see the full list so far.

And today we have …

6th: Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City and Belgium

(Last year: 4th)

If there is one player on this list who best epitomises the phrase “form is temporary, class is permanent” it’s probably this guy, and the last 12 months have been a mixture of darkness and light for the brilliant Belgian.

De Bruyne was instrumental as Manchester City won the Premier League title and made it all the way to the club’s first ever Champions League final in 2020/21.

That night in Porto at the end of May was supposed to be the crowning glory of his career, but it ended with him leaving the pitch concussed and in tears after fracturing his cheekbone in a collision with Antonio Rüdiger as City were beaten.

“I don’t remember how I got in to the hospital, the night itself,” De Bruyne later revealed.

“I remember going back in the morning to the team hotel and I still had my City kit on at 10:00 in the morning.”

That cruel end to the season meant he wasn’t 100% when he joined up with Belgium for the European Championship and after a brilliant performance in a 2-1 win over Denmark, he picked up a serious ankle injury after being on the receiving end of a nasty tackle during the last 16 encounter with Portugal.

It meant pain-killing injections were required in order for him to play against Italy in the quarter-finals – something he later regretted.

“I knew immediately that my ankle was bad after that tackle against Portugal,” he said later.

“I played against Italy with two injections. If I had known beforehand what my ankle would have been like afterwards, I would not have played football.”

Belgium were eliminated by the eventual winners and De Bruyne’s summer ordeal meant he didn’t look himself as Manchester City kicked off the 2021/22 campaign.

And then just as the two-time PFA Player of the Year was beginning to find his feet, a bout of Covid struck in November, sidelining him for a number of weeks. Talk about bad luck.

But you can’t keep a good man down forever, and 2022 has so far been a great year for De Bruyne personally.

In January he netted a stunning winning goal against his old club Chelsea, before putting in a Man of the Match performance in a 4-1 demolition of Manchester United earlier this month.

At 30-years-old, the best years of his career are probably behind him and earlier this season, many wondered whether his time as a truly world class player was over.

But when you can pass, cross and shoot a ball as well as De Bruyne, you will always have something to offer.

And if City manage to retain their title and go one better in the Champions League this year, you can bet their talisman will be right in the thick of it, putting his body on the line.

Click right here to see the full list so far.