Berlin (dpa)
Lionel Messi thanked his colleagues in the Argentine national football team for a year that was like a dream, after he was crowned the best player in the world for the year 2022 in the FIFA referendum for the second time.
The French star of Paris Saint-Germain outperformed his teammate Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid striker, to win the award at the ceremony that was held on Monday in Paris.
Messi played a starring role in crowning the Argentine national team in the 2022 World Cup, where he won the Golden Ball award in the tournament after scoring seven goals and assisting three. He also had a good season at the club level in the first half of the 2022/2023 season, which was taken into account during the vote, after he scored 11 goals and provided 14 assists in 18 matches.
After receiving the award for the best player, which he won before in 2019, Messi said: “It is amazing. It was a great year and it is an honor for me to win this award. “Without my teammates, I wouldn’t be here,” he added. I achieved the dream I’ve been dreaming of for a long time. Few people can achieve this, and I was lucky to achieve it. “It is the most wonderful thing that happened to me in my career.”
Messi became the third player to win the award twice, after Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and Poland’s Robert Lewandowski. Luka Modric also received the award, which began to be awarded in 2016, once.
Lionel Scaloni won the award for best coach in the men’s category, while Emiliano Martinez won the award for best goalkeeper in the men’s competitions. In the women’s competition, Sarina Wegman won the award for best coach for the third time, while Alexia Potias won the award for best player, beating Beth Maid, and Mary Erbes, goalkeeper of Manchester United and the England national team, won the award for best goalkeeper for women.
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