Lionel Messi is the favourite to win his eighth Ballon d’Or, and the event honouring the world’s best player takes place in Paris on Monday. Aitana Bonmati, a Spanish star who won the World Cup, is the favourite to win the men’s title.
Over the past 15 years, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been a foe for a long time, have won the prestigious award 12 times between them.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or for the first time in 2008. Since then, only two other players have been able to claim the trophy: Luka Modric in 2018 and Karim Benzema in 2017 after a great season with Real Madrid.
Since the award is now based on how well a player did during the previous season instead of the whole year, Messi stands to benefit from the recent change.
Messi was named the best player of the game because he scored seven goals and helped Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar. This success happened during the last season.
It was the highlight of his amazing career, and it’s likely that Messi will win after beating out the other 30 nominees who are also very strong.
Seven of them played for Manchester City when Pep Guardiola was manager. They were on the team that won the English Premier League, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.
The most obvious pick is Erling Haaland, who won UEFA Player of the Year last year after scoring 52 goals in 53 games. Haaland has won the prize before.
Guardiola told reporters not long ago, “I always said that the Ballon d’Or should be split into two parts: one for Messi and then look for the other one.”
“Haaland should win this.” There were three events, and we won all of them. He scored somewhere around 50 million goals.
“But of course, if you were to tell me Messi’s worst season, it would be the best season for the rest of the players,” the boss stated.
“What else can I say? They both deserve it.” To make myself feel better, I’d have to say that I hope Erling wins because he’s been so important to our success so far. I think it sounds great!
A star from Spain named Aitana Bonmati won the World Cup.
The reason why Mbappe should play?
Messi won Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain, but his season with the French team was disappointing, even though he won it with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
He played for the French club and scored 21 goals for them before moving to Inter Miami in Major League Soccer earlier this year. But it was clear he was never happy playing for Paris because his own fans would sometimes make fun of him.
At the very least, Mbappe’s time should have come by now.
After an amazing hat trick in that exciting title game, he scored eight goals in the World Cup to become the tournament’s top scorer. He was without a doubt PSG’s most important player that season.
Mbappe, who is 24 years old, has a good chance of getting a trophy that is put together and given out in Paris. The French influence is very much behind him.
When asked last week who he would vote for, Franck Haise, manager of the top French team Lens, didn’t hesitate to say: his favourite candidate.
“Another Frenchman, Kylian Mbappe,” the player said.
He deserves it because he had a great season all around and is a great player. I wouldn’t find this strange even if I thought that a player who has already won the World Cup would win again.
The prize winner is chosen by a group that includes one journalist from each of FIFA’s top 100 countries. Sorry about that.
The road that seems to lead to the winner of the women’s prize is even more clear.
There are four candidates from the Spain team that won the Women’s World Cup in Sydney in August, despite problems off the pitch, such as protests against the Spanish Football Association and coach Jorge Vilda. The game took place in Australia.
Other options on the short list are fullback Olga Carmona, who scored the game-winning goal in the championship game, Alba Redondo, and Salma Paralluelo. However, Bonmati seems unbeatable.
The 25-year-old Barcelona midfielder proved her worth throughout the tournament. She has been a star for her team as they have won the Champions League before.
Guardiola has said that she is like Andres Iniesta, another one of Barcelona’s all-time greats, because of how good she has been.
If things were normal, players like Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa, who scored the most goals in the World Cup, or Australia’s Sam Kerr would really be in the running. Bonmati, on the other hand, looks like he is going to win.