Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi has won his seventh Ballon d’Or after a year in which he won the Copa del Rey with Barcelona and the Copa America with Argentina. Leo Messi was among the favorites to win it with Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo.
This was the first Ballon d’Or event in two years as last year’s program was canceled due to the coronavirus epidemic. The 34-year-old Messi scored 38 goals in all competitions in his last league season at Barca before moving to PSG in the summer as Barca were unable to renew his contract. Messi has left the club unwilling and has scored four goals in 10 games for the French club so far.
In fact, he ended up being La Liga’s top scorer last season with 30 goals, seven ahead of his closest rivals Karim Benzema and Gerard Moreno when he finished fifth in the top nine assistant charts. Messi also scored two goals in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao in April. That was the last trophy he won for the Catalan giants.
Along with his team’s brilliance, Messi has played well for his country this year. He scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Bolivia in the summer World Cup qualifiers while scoring one and helping two-beat Ecuador 3-0 in the Copa America, a tournament Argentina won. It was the first time Lionel Messi had won the title with his country. In addition, Argentina have already booked a place in the 2022 World Cup so the Argentine player still has a chance to win the World Cup for the first time.
The award was presented based on a combination of voting fans and a judging panel comprising journalists from around the world, actors, coaches and other world-renowned actors. Messi’s win doubles Cristiano Ronaldo’s claim to the Ballon d’Or victory and puts back Lewandowski, who was not expected to win the trophy last year before being canceled.