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Leo Messi battles Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho for Ballon d’Or 2021
There has been outrage has Lionel Messi is favorite to collect his seventh Ballon d’Or award at a glittering 2021 ceremony in Paris this today.
There has been outrage has Lionel Messi is favourite to collect his seventh Ballon d’Or award at a glittering 2021 ceremony in Paris this today.
More so, it was said he is going to win has he won the Copa America with Argentina earlier this year, despite one of his less impressive years at club level.
Recall that Barcelona, Messi’s former club finished third in La Liga and fell in the first knockout round of the Champions League.
However, Messi scored two goals as Barca won the Copa del Rey final and he was La Liga’s top goalscorer once more, before switching to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.
According to SkySport, Robert Lewandowski was widely expected to win last year’s award before it was canceled due to the pandemic, and the Bayern Munich striker is in the running once again.
Chelsea’s Jorginho is another candidate, having won the Champions League with his club and Euro 2020 with his country Italy a couple of months later.
The ceremony will take place tonight at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris starting from 7.30 pm GMT. The ranking will begin by being unveiled at 3.30 pm GMT and the ceremony is expected to end around 9 pm GMT.
Ballon d’Or 2021 which is an award, presented by the French magazine France Football, is considered the highest individual honor in football. It was only eligible for European players up until 1995 before voting was opened up to all players at European clubs. From 2007, it became a global award.
There are 10 players to have won the prize multiple times, listed below. Germany, Netherlands, and Portugal all have seven wins each, while Germany and Italy have the most individual winners – five different players each.
Barcelona is the most successful club with 12 wins, though Real Madrid has more individual winners – seven.
Lionel Messi (Arg) – 6
Cristiano Ronaldo (Por) – 5
Michel Platini (Fra) – 3
Johann Cruyff (Ned) – 3
Marco van Basten (Ned) – 3
Franz Beckenbauer (Ger) – 2
Ronaldo (Bra) – 2
Alfredo Di Stefano (Spa) – 2
Kevin Keegan (Eng) – 2
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Ger) – 2