Former England international Gary Lineker came second in the rankings with 62 points.
At the time, Lineker was arguably in his prime. After winning the Golden Boot with England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, he was snapped up bydebut against Racing Santander before going on to score 21 goals in 41 games during his first season in Spain.
But despite reaching those heights, the Leicester City youth product was beaten to the Ballon d'Or by Soviet forward Igor Belanov.It came as a surprise to many. Belanov lifted the award at the annual gala ceremony on December 30th, 1986 after an impressiveHe notched four goals and six assists for the Soviet Union as they reached the round of 16 – a game in which he scored a hat-trick against Belgium.
But that record was not nearly as good as Lineker's. Still, the Dynamo Kiev forward was awarded the best player award to end the dominance of Michel Platini."At that time, only European players were eligible to win the Ballon d’Or, so Diego Maradona couldn’t win it – which he undoubtedly would have done if non-European players were allowed to contend for the prize."But, speaking of everyone else, I do think I deserved the award that year.
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