“It’s unbelievable to be here. Two years ago I thought it would be the last time,” said the 34-year-old in his address. “The key was to win the Copa America,” said Messi, who led Argentina to win the South American Championship for the first time in 28 years this summer.
Ballon d’Or: Messi is record title holder
While Lewandowski had to settle for second place in the election carried out by the French specialist newspaper “France Football”, the Argentine lifted the trophy for the seventh time in the service of Paris Saint-Germain and is thus the record holder of the title.
Lewandowski second despite goal record
Either Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo (five) have received the award since 2008, only in 2018 the Croatian Luka Modric broke this phalanx. This time Lewandowski had high hopes. After all, the 33-year-old had set new records this year after the triple season in 2020. In the German Bundesliga, Lewandowski surpassed Gerd Müller’s forever scoring record with 41 goals. In the current season, the Pole has already scored 25 goals in 20 competitive games for Bayern.
Messi on Lewandowski: “would have deserved it”
“It’s an honor to be here with you. You broke records and you deserved to win the Ballon d’Or,” said Messi at least encouraging Lewandowski. He was still allowed to go on stage beforehand and was honored in a newly introduced award as the best goalscorer of the year, which was more of a kind of consolation prize.
European champion Gianluigi Donnarumma was chosen as the best goalkeeper, while the “Trophee Kopa” for the best young player was won by the Spaniard Pedri from FC Barcelona. For the women, the Golden Ball went to the Spaniard Alexia Putellas.
Erling Haaland just missed the top 10 and ended up in 11th place ????????????
Posted by Goal Germany am Tuesday, November 30th, 2021
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World footballer election in January
The Ballon d’Or is not a substitute for the world footballer’s choice. This election will continue to be organized by the world association FIFA, the freestyle will take place on January 17, 2022. Lewandowski was chosen as a world footballer for the first time in 2020. The Ballon d’Or, on the other hand, was not awarded last year due to the corona pandemic. From 2010 to 2015, the world footballer was awarded the Golden Ball through a cooperation between FIFA and “France Football”.
Ronaldo criticizes “France Football”
Ronaldo, who was not present at the ceremony, attacked the co-organizer of the award shortly before. “Pascal Ferré lied, he used my name to advertise himself and the newspaper he works for,” wrote Ronaldo on Instagram. He responded to statements by the editor-in-chief of “France Football”, who had claimed that Ronaldo’s main goal was to end his career with more gold balls than his all-time rival Lionel Messi. “It is unacceptable for the person responsible for awarding such a prestigious award to lie in this way, with utter disrespect to someone who has always respected France Football and the Ballon d’Or,” added Ronaldo.
(Quelle: What/Dpa)
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