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This Monday in France, the 2022 Ballon d’Or awards were presented, which honored Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema as the best soccer player of this year. The ‘Gato’ was awarded after having an outstanding season at the Madrid club. For her part, the Spanish Alexia Putellas, player of FC Barcelona, was established as the best player in women’s football for the second consecutive year.
At 34 years old, Frenchman Karim Benzema became the best player in the world for the first time on Monday after receiving the Ballon d’Or, the highest footballing honor that has been awarded since 1956 by the magazine ‘France Football’.
Benzema won the award after his performance last season with Real Madrid and it was presented by his former coach, Zinedine Zidane, at the Chateles Theater in Paris.
The attacker took the victory ahead of Kevin De Bruyne, Robert Lewandowski and Sadio Mané, also nominated by the French publication.
“This award that I have in front of me fills me with pride. When I was little, it was a childhood dream, I never gave up… Anything is possible”, said Benzema after receiving the ball.
“There was a difficult period when I was not in the French team, but I never gave up. I am very proud of my career here. It was not easy, it was also a difficult time for my family.”
Benzema is the fifth French player to receive the award, after the likes of Zidane, Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Jean-Pierre Papin were all deserving of the prestigious accolade.
Last year the Argentine Lionel Messi was the winner of his seventh Ballon d’Or, although this time he was not among the candidates for this recognition.
Alexia Putellas, women’s Ballon d’Or for the second consecutive year
Before Benzema’s victory was known, the magazine awarded the women’s Ballon d’Or for the second consecutive year to the Spanish player from FC Barcelona, Alexia Putellas, who became the first player to repeat the recognition award, which was created in 2018.
Putellas disputed the title against her compatriot Aitana Bonmatí and her Barcelona teammates Fridolina Rolfo (Sweden) and Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria), the French Wendie Renard, winner of the Champions League with Lyon, the English Beth Mead, and the German Alexandra Popp.
“I am very happy to be here, very happy, the truth is that when we managed to win the first one a year ago, I decided to try to improve, to put it at the service of the team and to see myself rewarded in this way, it makes me proud”, said Putellas after receiving the award from the hands of the Ukrainian star Andrei Sevchenko, winner of the recognition in 2004.
The other winners of the night
Similarly, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski won the Gerd Müller Trophy for the best scorer last season on Monday, in which he scored 42 points for Bayern Munich before hanging up his shirt and wearing the colors of Barcelona.
“I thank my former teammates from Bayern, but also those from Barcelona (his current club). We have to work hard, that the whole team is going in the right direction,” he added.
Belgian Thibaut Courtois, for his part, received the most important recognition a goalkeeper can get with the Yashin Trophy, making him last season’s best goalkeeper as a left-back.
with EFE
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