Football great Lionel Messi has bagged Ballon d’Or’s Best Player on the Planet award for the record seventh time, beating Robert Lewandowski who ended as runner-up.
The Argentinian star steered his country to clinch the Copa America, his first international laurel and has hit 40 goals in 2021 – four for Paris St-Germain, eight for Argentina, and 28 for Barcelona.
Italy and Chelsea club midfielder Jorginho came third while French and Real Madrid’s striker Karim Benzema ended up at fourth.
At least 180 journalists from across the world cast their votes for the award nominations. It was either Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo (five wins) bagged the award each year from 2008 to 2019, aside from 2018 when Croatia midfielder Luka Modric got the honour.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo has blamed the France Football editor of lying following his statement that the Portuguese’s superstar only ambition was to retire with more such awards than Messi.
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