Lionel Messi beats Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho to win 7th Ballon d’Or award

A new Ballon d’Or award has been presented to Lionel Messi, this time ahead of Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho.

In a ceremony held on Monday night in Paris, Messi was presented with the prestigious Ballon d’Or for 2021. He was followed by Bayern Munich striker Lewandowski, who was second, and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho in third place.

While he won his seventh Copa del Rey trophy, he also helped Argentina win the Copa America in July, ending his long wait for a major international trophy.

Despite Covid’s disruption to the football calendar, the French magazine France Football gave the world’s greatest player this year’s award to Messi. Last year, the magazine presented no award because of the disruption.

Luka Modric is the only player to break Messi and Ronaldo’s trio of Ballon d’Or trophies, who have shared 12 of the last 13 trophies. The first men’s Ballon d’Or was awarded in 1956.

Messi, a seven-time winner of the France Football Ballon d’Or, said: “I’m really honored to be nominated again in this category.”. It’s incredible to win it for the seventh time.

The people who follow me and always support me are the ones who helped me achieve this, and I wish to thank them.

I’m in Paris today. I am very happy, really very happy. I really want to continue fighting and achieving new goals.

I’m enjoying myself, and I don’t know how many more years I have left. It is important to thank my teammates in Barcelona, Paris, and Argentina.

It is a great honor for you to receive the Ballon d’Or, Lewandowski. You were unanimously hailed as the big winner of this award last year.

In addition to the 14 Premier League players on the shortlist, there were four players who helped Chelsea win the Champions League in May – Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount and Cesar Azpilicueta.

Four England players made the cut after helping the team to its first major final in 55 years at the Euros this summer. They were as follows: Mount, Foden, Kane and Sterling.

Barcelona and Spain forward Alexia Putellas won the third ever Women’s Ballon d’Or award, beating Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema to the gong.