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<keyword id="6363543" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Real-Madrid">Real Madrid</keyword> booked a place in the <keyword id="6360761" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Champions-League">Champions League</keyword> final despite their 1-2 defeat in the semi-final return leg to <keyword id="61053" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Atletico-Madrid">Atletico Madrid</keyword> at the Vicente Calderon stadium.<br />
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Here are 5 plays from the Madrid Derby everybody will be talking about

UEFA Semi-Final, Athletico
Madrid vs Real Madrid: Atletico’s dream comes to an end

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Toni Kroos scored an audacious goal directly from a corner kick on Wednesday, helping Real Madrid to a 3-1 victory over Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup semifinal.</li><li>The German spotted Valencia's keeper off his line in the 15th minute, before bending a sublime effort directly into the net.</li><li><a href="https://www.realmadrid.com/en/news/2020/01/08/zidane-the-team-is-working-hard-to-be-playing-at-this-level">Madrid's manager Zinedine Zidane told the club's website</a> that "Kroos' inventiveness was fantastic."</li><li>Isco and Luka Modric scored Madrid's two other goals, before Valencia's Dani Parejo scored a late consolation from the penalty spot.</li><li>Madrid will now face Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, who meet on Thursday, in Sunday's final in Saudi Arabia.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/soccer-news?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=TIR=TIR=T">Read more of our soccer coverage here.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>Toni Kroos scored an audacious goal directly from a corner kick on Wednesday night, helping Real Madrid to a 3-1 victory over Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup semifinal.</p><p>The Germany international spotted keeper Jaume Domenech quarreling with the referee and subsequently off his line in the 15th minute, before bending a sublime effort towards the net.</p><p>Domenech attempted to scramble the shot clear, however it was too late - his reaction times proving no match for Kroos' ingenuity.</p><p><strong>Watch the goal here:</strong></p><p><strong>Or if you're in a different region, here:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.realmadrid.com/en/news/2020/01/08/zidane-the-team-is-working-hard-to-be-playing-at-this-level">Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane told the club's website</a> that "Kroos' inventiveness was fantastic."</p><p>Spaniard Isco added Madrid's second six minutes before the break, before Luka Modric made it 3-0 with a fine effort of his own in the 65th minute, bending the ball with the outside of his right boot into the bottom corner from 12 yards out.</p><p>Valencia's Dani Parejo denied Thibaut Courtois a clean sheet in the final moments from the penalty spot, however it mattered little, with Madrid emerging as comfortable victors at the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium, Saudi Arabia.</p><p>"The team is working hard to be playing at this level and it's great to see the dynamic in every single game. In yesterday's press conference I said we had to be at our best, and I don't know if we were, but we're pleased with the performance," said Zidane.</p><p>He added: "We should be happy, but we haven't won anything yet. We have to rest now, and tomorrow we'll start preparing for the final."</p><p>Madrid will take on either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, whom meet on Thursday, in Sunday's final.</p><p><strong>Read more:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-madrid-players-gifted-audis-for-christmas-2019-12">Real Madrid's 27-man first team was gifted new cars for Christmas by the club sponsor Audi, costing $2.4 million</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-james-says-ynwa-after-liverpool-sign-record-nike-deal-2020-1">Liverpool FC just signed the most lucrative kit deal in EPL history with Nike, and part owner Lebron James celebrated on Instagram</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nani-ferguson-let-us-train-drunk-on-new-year-at-manchester-united-2020-1">Manchester United players were once allowed to turn up to training drunk on New Year, a former player says</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-soccer-players-in-the-world-2019-10">The 50 best soccer players in the world in 2019</a></p>

Toni Kroos scored a devilishly opportunistic goal direct from the corner to send Real Madrid into the Spanish Super Cup final

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Real Madrid's first team squad saw Christmas come early on Monday as they were all gifted brand new cars by club sponsor Audi.</li><li>The car manufacturer allowed each of the club's 27-man squad to choose a new set of wheels, amounting to a total value of $2.4 million, <a href="https://en.as.com/en/2019/12/17/football/1576593412_450945.html">according of AS.</a></li><li>Captain Sergio Ramos chose the most expensive model, valued at $133,000, while manager Zinedine Zidane went for the cheapest, valued at $75,000.</li><li>See the full list of who chose what below.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/soccer-news?r=US&amp;IR=T">Read more of our soccer stories here.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>Real Madrid's first team squad saw Christmas come early on Monday as they were all gifted brand new cars by club sponsor Audi.</p><p>The car manufacturer allowed each member of the club's 27-man squad to choose a new set of wheels, amounting to a total value of just under $2.4 million, <a href="https://en.as.com/en/2019/12/17/football/1576593412_450945.html">according of AS.</a></p><p>The club posted a video of a number of the players with their new whips.</p><p>Captain Sergio Ramos opted for a brand new A8 50 TDI quattro tiptronic, the most valuable car chosen by any player, which is valued at $133,000.</p><p>The lowest value car selected was the $75,000 RS 3 Sportback TFSI quattro S tronic, chosen by Karim Benzema, Thibaut Courtois, and manager Zinedine Zidane in white, grey, and black respectively.</p><p><strong>A full list of who took home what is here, <a href="https://en.as.com/en/2019/12/17/football/1576593412_450945.html">courtesy of AS:</a></strong></p><p><em>A8 50 TDI quattro tiptronic ($133,000) - Sergio Ramos </em></p><p><em>Q8 50 TDI quattro tiptronic ($97,000) - Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez, Eden Hazard, Federico Valverde, Nacho Fernandez</em></p><p><em>e-tron 55 quattro ($93,000) - Raphael Varane</em></p><p><em>A7 Sportback 50 TDI quattro tiptronic ($88,000) - Vinicius Jr, Alvaro Odriozola, Marco Asensio, Marcelo</em></p><p><em>Q7 50 TDI quattro tiptronic ($85,000) - Brahim Diaz, Luka Jovic, Mariano Diaz, Luka Modric, Rodrygo Goes, Casemiro, Ferland Mendy, Gareth Bale, Isco</em></p><p><em>Q7 50 TDI quattro tiptronic ($83,000) - Alphonse Areola, Eder Militao</em></p><p><em>RS 3 Sportback TFSI quattro S tronic ($75,000) - Karim Benzema, Thibaut Courtois, Zinedine Zidane</em></p><p>The players will be able to keep the cars until the end of the season before returning them, AS reports, however will receive a brand new model at the same time next year, should the manufacturer's partnership with the club continue as expected.</p><p>Zidane's squad can't spend too much time playing with their new Christmas toys, however, with Real Madrid set to take on rival FC Barcelona in El Clasico on Wednesday night.</p><p>The clash at the Camp Nou is the first time the two sides have met this season after the original match in October was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-madrid-barcelona-el-clasico-postponed-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T">postponed due to protests in Catalonia.</a> It will decide who will claim the top spot in La Liga just ahead of Christmas. </p><p>Barcelona is currently top with 35 points, however Madrid trails only by goal difference, meaning a win for Zidane's side will see it jump its nemesis into first place.</p><p>The game also holds special importance because the winner will take the crown of having won the most El Clasico wins in history, with both sides having won 72 times in the past. </p><p>Kick off is at 7 p.m. GMT. </p><p><strong>Read more:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-ansu-fati-scores-messi-esque-goal-for-fc-barcelona-2019-12">A 17-year-old FC Barcelona prodigy scored a Messi-esque goal to become the youngest-ever Champions League scorer and he described it as 'a dream'</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/houssem-aouar-admired-by-pep-guardiola-transfer-news-2019-12">A Zidane-like 21-year-old has rejected a move to Liverpool FC, has been called 'amazing' by Pep Guardiola, and is already valued at $66 million</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/suarez-backs-messi-to-continue-playing-after-he-hints-at-retirement-2019-12">Luis Suarez has backed Lionel Messi to continue playing even though the Argentine sparked retirement rumors by saying 'the moment of withdrawal is approaching'</a></p>

Real Madrid's 27-man first team were gifted brand new cars for Christmas by club sponsor Audi, costing a total of $2.4 million

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table lead-image-small"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/black-holes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">black hole</a> 4 million times heavier than the sun lurks at the center of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/milky-way" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Milky Way</a> galaxy.</strong></li><li><strong>Telescopes just took the best-ever observations of hot gas circling the edge of the black hole.</strong></li><li><strong>The gas burst out three powerful flares as it zipped around and fell toward the black hole at about 30% the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/speed-of-light" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speed of light</a>.</strong></li><li><strong>Astronomers called the observations "mind-boggling" and the closest-ever look at the edge of a monster black hole.</strong></li></ul><p>Astronomers just observed the supermassive black hole at the center of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-milky-way-galaxy-looks-like-2016-9">Milky Way galaxy</a> sucking blobs of hot gas toward their doom at a blistering 30% the speed of light.</p><p>That's an incredible 201 million mph, which was enough to trigger three powerful bursts of radiation from the clouds. Researchers detected the flares from Earth using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) array in Chile.</p><p>Scientists behind the observations of Sagittarius A* (pronounced "A-star"), as the monster black hole is known, say the data is a "<a href="https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1835/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mind-boggling</a>" closest-ever look near the edge of a black hole. It's not the traditional point-of-no-return, called the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photograph-event-horizon-black-hole-milky-way-heart-2017-3">event horizon</a> - from which light cannot escape - but a physical one where, if anything made of matter teeters too close, it will begin an inescapable death spiral.</p><p>The group published <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1835/eso1835a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a study</a> of its work on Wednesday in the journal Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics.</p><p>"Astronomers have observed material as close as you can get to a black hole without being consumed by it," <a href="https://twitter.com/josieapeters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Josephine Peters</a>, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford who wasn't involved in the study, told Business Insider.</p><p>"Even though [Sagittarius A*] is our closest supermassive black hole, it is still incredibly mysterious," she added. "This marks the beginning of understanding more about our nearby astronomical monster."</p><h2>Staring the 'monster' of the Milky Way in the eye</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Sagittarius A* is thought to be a black hole about 4.14 million times the mass of our sun, or 1.3 trillion times as massive as Earth.<p>Definitively proving either of those two facts is tricky, though, since the presumed black hole is some 25,000 light-years from Earth. It's also practically invisible because the gravity of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/third-gravitational-waves-event-heard-2017-6">black holes</a> is so strong that not even light can escape beyond their event horizons, where Albert Einstein's calculations of the universe fall apart and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hawking-how-the-physicist-inspired-my-career-2018-3">Stephen Hawking's begin</a>.</p><p>However, knowing as much about Sagittarius A* as possible is crucial for a number of good reasons.</p><p>On big scales, it's a window into the history and evolution of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/milky-way-galaxy-crystal-ball-image-2018-6">Milky Way galaxy</a>, which rotates its spiral arms of hundreds of billions of stars about the giant black hole at its center. That galactic story is also intimately tied to the emergence of the solar system and life itself. (And the same is true of the hundreds of billions of other galaxies in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/entire-universe-picture-logarithmic-map-2017-6">visible universe</a> - some of which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-signals-search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence-study-2018-10">may harbor aliens</a>).</p><p>There's also its weirder utility: The closest supermassive black hole we know of is a laboratory for the physical laws of the universe. It is so massive and spins so rapidly, it dramatically warps and twists spacetime, and accelerates objects to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/theory-of-relativity-2017-12">relativistic or near-light-speed</a>.</p><p>Nature gets very, very weird when this happens, but it happens nowhere near Earth. So being able to watch it, even from tens of thousands of light-years away, is like having a front-row seat to the cutting-edge of human knowledge.</p><p>This is why astronomers aimed an instrument called GRAVITY at Sagittarius A*.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>In uncomplicated terms, GRAVITY combines the light harvested by four 30-foot-diameter telescopes in the VLT array, which is operated by the European Southern Observatory.</p><p>GRAVITY does so as a super-precise, super-cooled instrument that allows researchers to extract more information from the incoming light. This turns the array into one very powerful "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eta-carinae-winds-highest-resolution-image-2016-10">virtual</a>" telescope equivalent to 425 feet in diameter.</p><p>This extra resolving power helped astronomers peer at a plane of gas and dust that's falling toward Sagittarius A*, a feature called an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-holes-hide-behind-star-exhaust-2016-9">accretion disk</a>. The disk is about 100 million miles wide, or a little wider than Earth is distant from the sun.</p><p>GRAVITY helped the team look for flares of infrared light, which astronomers had seen for more than decade. But this time - with incredible resolving power - they tried to stare at the innermost edge of the disk.</p><p>During observations on the nights of May 27, July 22, and July 28, GRAVITY saw three flares. The data suggested the flares came from a blob of hot gas circling clockwise around the black hole.</p><p>"As a cloud of gas gets closer to the black hole, they speed up and heat up," Peters said. "It glows brighter the faster and hotter it gets. Eventually the gas cloud gets close enough that the pull of the black hole stretches it into a thin arc."</p><p>This happened just outside the event horizon, in an area astronomers refer to as a physical point-of-no-return, called the "innermost stable circular orbit" or ISCO - a region not yet observed before.</p><p>Move a blob of matter closer than the ISCO, the thinking goes, and it can't escape. The gravity of a black hole will accelerate the blob of matter, giving it more energy, which will - as Einstein's work explains - give it a stronger gravitational force. This then pulls it faster toward the black hole, creating a feedback-loop of relativistic physics that ends in oblivion.</p><h2>What the edge of our supermassive black hole might look like</h2><p>This thin arc is shown in the ESO's picture at the top of this story, though the image is not a photograph.</p><p>Rather, it's a visual simulation that uses data collected by GRAVITY and other telescopes. Orange shows what researchers think is a blob of superheated gas, or plasma, while blue shows radiation that bleeds off the matter and occasionally bursts into bright flares.</p><p>The picture also illustrates the bending and distortion of light caused by the black hole <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warp-drive-study-department-defense-real-fake-2018-5">warping spacetime</a> with its concentrated mass, an effect called gravitational lensing.</p><p>ESO also created an animation of the gas cloud and flares, below.</p><p>The signal seen on Earth is in infrared light, which is just out of the range of human visibility, but it's not the only form of flare radiation.</p><p>"If you were close enough to observe these flares, you'd be in a lot of trouble," <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanadjoseph/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tana Joseph</a>, an astrophysicist and fellow at the University of Manchester who wasn't involved in the study, told Business Insider in an email. "We would see extremely bright flashes of optical light, and there would be lots of high energy radiation, like gamma rays and X-rays, that would be very damaging to our bodies."</p><p>Peters says flares have been seen coming from Sagittarius A* before. However, she added the new observations - which show the very edge of the black hole - are like going from the resolution of an old television to a high-definition flat-screen TV.</p><h2>A flashing spacetime lens?</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>What causes these flares is an active mystery.</p><p>One idea is that extreme forces around the black hole, primarily intense magnetic fields, will occasionally toss off and accelerate some of the hot plasma into jets, which then bleed off energy as flares.</p><p>"We see plasma flares associated with magnetic fields in many places, including our own Sun, but we don't yet fully understand the exact causes of such flares," <a href="http://www.astro.gsu.edu/~bentz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Misty Bentz</a>, an astrophysicist at Georgia State University at who also wasn't part of the study, told Business Insider in an email.</p><p>But something far weirder may be at play: large distortions in spacetime caused by the spinning of a black hole at some fraction of the speed of light. Such distortions might be focusing the energy that's bleeding off of orbiting blobs of hot plasma into a beam, and the beam occasionally flashes across the telescopes of Earth - creating a flare.</p><p>"The black hole is like this lighthouse lens that's causing this thing to flash at us as it goes around," Avery Broderick, an astrophysicist at the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics and the University of Waterloo, <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/astronomers-creep-up-to-the-edge-of-the-milky-ways-black-hole-20181030/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Quanta</a>. (Broderick first proposed this idea in 2005.)</p><p>The ESO's press release claims the flares "provide long-awaited confirmation that the object in the center of our galaxy is, as has long been assumed, a supermassive black hole."</p><p>This claim is likely over-blown, however, since it's virtually impossible to directly confirm the existence of a black hole, short of visiting one or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gravitational-waves-ligo-2016-2">"listening" to them crash together</a>.</p><p>"One might argue that you can never prove the existence of an invisible object like a black hole," Bentz said. "But this new study with GRAVITY confirms that a compact object with a mass of 4 million suns is still the only way to explain all the observations."</p><p>Bentz is eager to know what the flares foretell. She also said the very circular orbit of the blob of plasma was unusual. This may suggest the rotational axis of Sagittarius A*, like a tilting spinning top, was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2-million-mile-per-hour-winds-at-galaxy-center-2015-1">aligned with the Milky Way</a> a few million years ago, but has inexplicably pointed toward Earth.</p><p>If true, Bentz said, "that would be quite a puzzle."</p><div><div style="position:relative; padding-bottom:100.00%"></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-universe-will-die-2017-4">How our universe will end: 'The black holes will eat up everything'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A 'mind-boggling' telescope observation has revealed the point of no return for our galaxy's monster black hole

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Each year, France Football awards its most prestigious trophy - the Ballon d'Or - to the world's best men's soccer player.</li><li>Throughout the day on Monday, France Football released the list of 30 players in consideration for the 2018 Ballon d'Or, including Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo, and Paris St. Germain's Neymar.</li><li>France Football also unveiled the 15-person shortlist for its first-ever women's Ballon d'Or Monday afternoon.</li></ul><p><br>Each year, France Football awards its most prestigious trophy - the Ballon d'Or - to the world's best men's soccer player. The organization revealed the 30 players in contention for the 2018 Ballon d'Or throughout the day Monday, and many of the biggest names in soccer have made the list.</br></p><p>Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo has taken the trophy home in each of the last two years, but Portugal's early departure from the World Cup combined with his rocky start with new club Juventus and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cristiano-ronaldo-rape-allegations-kathryn-mayorga-2018-10">recent rape allegations levied against him</a> could doom his chances at a three-peat.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>Lionel Messi - who also has five Ballons d'Or - could reclaim the honor for the first time since 2015, but his inability to lead Argentina to success at the World Cup has undoubtedly dampened his chances.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>Likewise, Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar is an unlikely pick to break through to win his first Ballon d'Or this year due to his international performances. Brazil failed to live up to expectations for the 2018 World Cup, falling to Belgium in a major quarterfinal upset.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>The favorite to win the 2018 Ballon d'Or, however, is midfielder Luka Modric. The Real Madrid veteran captained Croatia to its first ever World Cup final, after which he earned&#xa0;the Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament. Modric has already earned FIFA World Player of the Year honors and is widely expected to add the Ballon d'Or to his collection of awards after posting an absolutely stellar year. Messi and Ronaldo have had a monopoly on the Ballon d'Or for the past decade, but Modric may be the man to end their collective reign.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>France Football also released the shortlist of players nominated to receive the first-ever women's Ballon d'Or, which includes five-time&#xa0;<span>FIFA World Player of the Year winner Marta, Australian blackflipper and&#xa0;all-time NWSL leading scorer Sam Kerr, and U.S. Women's National Team captain Megan Rapinoe</span>. Lyon dominated with seven of fifteen nominees playing for the club.</p><p>Check out the complete list of men's and women's Ballon d'Or nominees:</p><h3><strong>Men's nominees:</strong></h3><div>Sergio Agüero&#xa0;(ARG / Manchester City)</div><div>Alisson&#xa0;(BRE / Liverpool)</div><div>Gareth Bale&#xa0;(GAL / Real Madrid)</div><div>Karim Benzema&#xa0;(FRA / Real Madrid)</div><div>Edinson Cavani&#xa0;(URU / PSG)</div><div>Thibaut Courtois&#xa0;(BEL / Chelsea)</div><div>Cristiano Ronaldo&#xa0;(POR / Juventus Turin)</div><div>Kevin De Bruyne&#xa0;(BEL / Manchester City)</div><div>Roberto Firmino&#xa0;(BRE / Liverpool)</div><div>Diego Godin&#xa0;(URU / Atlético Madrid)</div><div>Antoine Griezmann&#xa0;(FRA / Atlético Madrid)</div><div>Eden Hazard&#xa0;(BEL / Chelsea)</div><div>Isco&#xa0;(ESP / Real Madrid)</div><div>Harry Kane&#xa0;(ANG / Tottenham)</div><div>N'Golo Kanté&#xa0;(FRA / Chelsea)</div><div>Hugo Lloris&#xa0;(FRA / Tottenham)</div><div>Mario Mandzukic&#xa0;(CRO / Juventus Turin)</div><div>Sadio Mané&#xa0;(SEN / Liverpool)</div><div>Marcelo&#xa0;(BRE / Real Madrid)</div><div>Kylian Mbappé&#xa0;(FRA / PSG)</div><div>Lionel Messi&#xa0;(ARG / FC Barcelone)</div><div>Luka Modric&#xa0;(CRO / Real Madrid)</div><div>Neymar&#xa0;(BRA / PSG)</div><div>Jan Oblak&#xa0;(SLO / Atlético Madrid)</div><div>Paul Pogba&#xa0;(FRA / Manchester United)</div><div>Ivan Rakitic&#xa0;(CRO / FC Barcelone)</div><div>Mohamed Salah&#xa0;(EGY / Liverpool)</div><div>Sergio Ramos&#xa0;(ESP / Real Madrid)</div><div>Luis Suarez&#xa0;(URU / FC Barcelone)</div><div>Raphaël Varane&#xa0;(FRA / Real Madrid)</div><div><div><div><div></div></div></div></div><h3><strong>Women's nominees:</strong></h3><div>Lucy Bronze (ENG / Lyon)</div><div>Pernille Harder (DEN / Wolfsburg)</div><div>Ada Hegerberg (NOR / Lyon)</div><div>Amandine Henry (FRA / Lyon)</div><div>Lindsey Horan (USA / Portland)</div><div>Sam Kerr (AUS / Chicago)</div><div>Fran Kirby (ENG / Chelsea)</div><div>Saki Kumagai (JPN / Lyon)</div><div>Dzsenifer Marozsan (GER / Lyon)</div><div>Amel Majri (FRA / Lyon)</div><div>Marta (BRA / Orlando)</div><div>Lieke Martens (NED / Barcelona)</div><div>Megan Rapinoe (USA / Seattle)</div><div>Wendie Renard (FRA / Lyon)</div><div>Christine Sinclair (CAN / Portland)</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chrissy-teigens-trainer-reveals-workout-secrets-2018-9">Chrissy Teigen's trainer reveals her workout secrets</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The 2018 Ballon d'Or nominees have been revealed

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Lionel Messi of Barcelona FC in Spain's La Liga is the most valuable soccer player in the world, <a href="http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/pdf/mr06_eng.pdf">according to the latest valuations released by Football-Observatory.com</a>.</p><p>Messi was determined to have a transfer value of $287.6-315.5 million (€255.3-280.9 million). That's more than a $100 million greater than any other player in the world.</p><p>While fans will argue about whether Messi or Ronaldo is the best player in the world, the one huge advantage Messi has over Ronaldo in terms of value is age. Messi (27) is three years younger than his Real Madrid rival. Ronaldo is one of just seven of the top 100 players who has already celebrated his 30th birthday, and he fell to No. 3 on this year's list behind Chelsea's Eden Hazard.</p><p>In addition to age, the player values are determined based on a formula that considers a player's performance, position, contract status, and experience, as well as his current team's performance and competition level, while factoring recent trends in spending in the transfer market.</p><p>Here are the 20 most valuable:</p><ol><li>Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - $287.8-316.6 million</li><li>Eden Hazard (Chelsea) <span> </span><span>- $</span>152.7-167.9<span> million</span></li><li>Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) <span> </span><span>- $</span>127.7-140.6<span> million</span></li><li>Neymar (Barcelona)<span> </span><span>- $</span>101.0-111.0<span> million</span></li><li>Sergio Agüero (Manchester City)<span> </span><span>- $</span>88.2-97.0<span> million</span></li><li>Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)<span> </span><span>- $</span>83.1-91.3<span> million</span></li><li>Paul Pogba (Juventus)<span> </span><span>- $</span>79.3-87.2<span> million</span></li><li>Diego Costa (Chelsea)<span> </span><span>- $</span>78.8-86.7<span> million</span></li><li>Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) <span> </span><span>- $</span>76.4-84.1<span> million</span></li><li>James Rodríguez (Real Madrid) <span> </span><span>- $</span>70.5-77.6<span> million</span></li><li>Luis Suárez (Barcelona) <span> </span><span>- $</span>67.6-74.4<span> million</span></li><li>Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) <span> </span><span>- $66.5</span>-73.2<span> million</span></li><li>Cesc Fàbregas (Chelsea) <span> </span><span>- $</span>66.2-72.7<span> million</span></li><li>Isco Alarcón (Real Madrid) <span> </span><span>- $</span>64.5-70.9<span> million</span></li><li>Harry Kane (Tottenham) <span> </span><span>- $60.3</span>-66.4<span> million</span></li><li>Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) <span> </span><span>- $57.8</span>-63.6<span> million</span></li><li>Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) <span> </span><span>- $56.8</span>-62.6<span> million</span></li><li>Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea) <span> </span><span>- $56.7</span>-62.4<span> million</span></li><li>Oscar dos Santos (Chelsea) <span> </span><span>- $</span>53.6-59.0<span> million</span></li><li>Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) <span> </span><span>- $</span>50.3-55.4<span> million</span></li></ol><p><a href="http://www.football-observatory.com/"><span>See the full list at Football-Observatory.com</span></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-floyd-mayweather-unbeatable-oscar-de-la-hoya-pacquiao-boxing-2015-5">Why Floyd Mayweather is impossible to beat</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="s3OTB1dDooH6JVhs6zmjefvR53XIs7VY" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "Isco" and got 6 results

UEFA Semi-Final, Athletico Madrid vs Real Madrid: Atletico’s dream comes to an end

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Toni Kroos scored a devilishly opportunistic goal direct from the corner to send Real Madrid into the Spanish Super Cup final

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Real Madrid's 27-man first team were gifted brand new cars for Christmas by club sponsor Audi, costing a total of $2.4 million

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A 'mind-boggling' telescope observation has revealed the point of no return for our galaxy's monster black hole

Dave Mosher

The 2018 Ballon d'Or nominees have been revealed

Meredith Cash

Lionel Messi is the most valuable player in the world and it's not even close

Cork Gaines

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