Lionel Messi’s seventh Ballon d’Or means he has two more than his rival Cristiano Ronaldo.Credit...Benoit Tessier/Reuters |
Some of the most illustrious names in soccer’s long history only managed to win the Ballon d’Or, the sport’s most prestigious individual prize, once. George Best, Zinedine Zidane and Eúsebio all have just a single award to their names. Ronaldo, the great Brazilian striker, won two. Johan Cruyff, arguably the finest European player in history, has three.
After Monday night, Lionel Messi now has seven.
Lionel Messi won the men’s Ballon d’Or award for a record-extending seventh time at a ceremony in Paris on Monday.
Messi won the last edition of the Ballon d’Or in 2019 before
last year’s awards were cancelled due to the pandemic. He also won in 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012 and in 2015.
The 34-year-old scored 38 goals in 48 games last season for
Barcelona and won the Copa del Rey before captaining Argentina to Copa America
glory in July.
That was the first major international title of his
glittering career, which had been spent entirely with Barcelona before his
tearful departure from the Camp Nou in August and subsequent move to Paris
Saint-Germain.
Messi has played just 11 games for PSG so far, scoring four
goals, but he was rewarded as much as anything for his continued brilliance
down the years.
He has now won the Ballon d’Or twice more than his old rival
Cristiano Ronaldo — between them they have won 12 of the last 13 editions with
the exception coming in 2018 when Luka Modric claimed the prize.
Prolific Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski finished
second and Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho was third in the voting by a
jury of journalists from around the world.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, came in sixth.
AFP
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