The Ballon d’Or returned after the first interruption in its history and it did so with a well-known stamp. In times of generational change, which illuminate the birth of the new stars that will govern world football in the near future, Lionel Messi resists everything on his pedestal. He shone more than anyone on the Parisian night, at a gala held at the Châtelet Theater, a luxurious stage located on the banks of the Seine, facing the Ile de la Cité, the heart of the City of Light. There, the César Awards for French cinema are awarded annually, although the most brilliant star this time was not an actor or actress. The spotlights pointed to the one who was already the player with the most awards of all time, but now the first drawer of the podium that he occupies has two steps ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, the man with whom he has been arguing for the throne of the game for almost fifteen years. eleven against eleven.
It was a very close election, the most contested in years. Robert Lewandowski, Jorginho or Karim Benzema also seriously aspired to recognition, but the America’s Cup weighed heavily. For years the Argentine team was the Chinese one in Messi’s shoe, the mole of a dazzling career. When it was necessary to question the aspiration of Rosario to be the best in history, the absence of successes with the albiceleste always appeared. Now, paradoxically, it is Argentina that catapults the ’10’ to the seventh Ballon d’Or –2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021–. In Brazil and before the eternal enemy came the long-awaited trophy with his team, the one that has allowed him to be the best again.
And it is that Messi triumphs in the most discreet calendar year in terms of his successes in clubs. Just the Copa del Rey with Barça, in a first stretch of 2021 marked by the problems in the Barça team and resolved with a traumatic exit from the Camp Nou, the one that any culé imagined just hanging their boots. From January to the end of the 2020-21 season he signed in any case 28 goals and 9 assists in 29 games between the Champions League, the Copa del Rey and the Super Cup, an almost unimaginable booty for any footballer that Messi takes to routine condition.
In the Copa América seven games as a starter, four targets and five goal passes, although above all the crown persecuted for so many years. It was not a World Cup but almost for a player frequently tortured by the pain of the three previously lost finals –2007, 2015 and 2016–. Another thing has been that of Paris Saint-Germain, where it has lacked its classic continuity in the outstanding. Just one goal and three assists in French Ligue 1, where he has appeared sporadically like Guadiana, playing seven of the fifteen games played to date. In the Champions League, at least he had time to leave part of his mark with three goals, one in the victory against Manchester City by Guardiola (2-1) and two in the comeback against Leipzig (3-2), the two greatest joys of the PSG of the galactic trident to date.
The seven times crowned best on the planet recalled his teammates at Barça, PSG and the Argentine team, with which he removed a “saved thorn.” “This award is largely for that,” he recalled, before thanking his closest friends for their support in a difficult year for him, in which he said goodbye to what was his home for two decades. He also recognized his great rival for the trophy, Lewandowski, of which he assured that he deserved recognition in 2020, inviting ‘France Football’ to a detail in this regard.
Cruyff’s prophecy
As predicted by a football visionary such as Johan Cruyff, Messi has already reached seven Ballons d’Or. That was the figure that the father of modern Barça ventured in 2012, when the ‘Flea’ won the fourth award of his career , the one that separated him from Cruyff himself, Platini and Van Basten, three times winners and dominators of the track record until the irruption of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese came to be paired with his great rival on the pitch in 2017, with the fourth prize in five years, but Messi regained command in 2019, the last edition so far and the one that returned the usual script after Luka Modric dared to discuss the duopoly.
He also aspired to sneak into the historic Lewandowski fight, and surely he would have achieved it in 2020, when Bayern boasted a triplet and its battering ram with scandal numbers. These are maintained but have not ended up being a sufficient argument, at least for those with a voice and vote. The Ballon d’Or was suspended due to the covid pandemic and the Pole had to settle for FIFA’s The Best, which did maintain the delivery of its award. 25 goals in 20 games with Bayern so far this season and another 26 in 21 in the second leg of the 2020-21 season, the one played in this calendar year that faces its final stretch. Records of scandal that at least were worth to be recognized as the best director of the year, a consolation prize of a new kind. Perhaps only the elimination of Bayern at the hands of PSG in the quarterfinals of the last Champions League weighed on him, although he cannot be blamed any responsibility for it as he could not participate in the tie due to suspension.
The award-winning Jorginho, champion of the Champions League with Chelsea and the European Championship with Italy, closes the podium of the Ballon d’Or. He left out the best Karim Benzema of his career, who could not sneak in for the first time among the three best footballers in the world. He won the League of Nations with France although he could not guide the French team beyond the eighth of the European Championship. He completed the year in white at Madrid, despite fighting in the league until the last minute and reaching the Champions League semi-finals, but this season he has 16 goals and 8 assists in 18 games with Madrid.
As for the Spanish male representation, Pedri was recognized as the best young player in Europe, a condition that is accredited by the Kopa Trophy. Finally, the Italian Donnarumma saw his great European Championship rewarded with the Yashin award for best goalkeeper and Chelsea was named the best club in the world in 2021, another premiere recognition.
The classification of the men’s Ballon d’Or 2021:
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona-PSG), 613 points.
2. Robert Lewandowski (Poland, Bayern Munich), 580 pts.
3. Jorginho (Italy, Chelsea), 460 pts.
4. Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid), 239 pts.
5. N’Golo Kanté (France, Chelsea), 186 pts.
6. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus-Manchester United), 178 pts.
7. Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool), 121 pts.
8. Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City), 73 pts.
9. Kylian Mbappé (France, PSG), 58 pts.
10. Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy, Milan, PSG), 36 pts.
11. Erling Haaland (Norway, Borussia Dortmund), 33 pts.
12. Romelu Lukaku (Belgium, Inter-Chelsea), 26 pts.
13. Giorgio Chiellini (Italy, Juventus), 26 pts.
14. Leonardo Bonucci (Italy, Juventus), 18 pts.
15. Raheem Sterling (England, Manchester City), 10 pts.
16. Neymar (Brazil, PSG), 9 pts.
17. Luis Suárez (Uruguay, Atlético), 8 pts.
18. Simon Kjaer (Denmark, Milan), 8 pts.
19. Mason Mount (England, Chelsea), 7 pts.
20. Riyad Mahrez (Algeria, Manchester City), 7 pts.
21. Bruno Fernandes (Portugal, Manchester United), 6 pts.
– Lautaro Martínez (Argentina, Inter), 6 pts.
23. Harry Kane (England, Tottenham), 4 pts.
24. Pedri (Spain, Barcelona), 3 pts
25. Phil Foden (England, Manchester City), 2 pts.
26. Nicolo Barella (Italy, Inter) 1 pt.
– Rúben Dias (Portugal, Manchester City), 1 pt.
– Gerard Moreno (Spain, Villarreal), 1 pt.
29. César Azpilicueta (Spain, Chelsea), 0 pt.
– Luka Modric (Croatie, Real Madrid), 0 pt.
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