Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema or the eternal Cristiano Ronaldo: many contenders jostle behind Lionel Messi, who could extend his reign with a seventh Ballon d’Or, this Monday during the gala for the award of the prestigious trophy for best player of the year in Paris.
Among the girls, Barcelona’s European champion Alexia Putellas was named favorite by Ada Hegerberg, the first female Ballon d’Or in history in 2018, but she faces competition from the Canadian Olympic champions and Chelsea players, unfortunate finalists. against her in the Champions League
A seventh wonder for Messi ? The Argentinean has the force of habit on his side. Since 2008, he and “CR7” have confiscated all Golden Ball except one, in 2018, won by the Croatian Luka Modric.
At 34, Messi didn’t have a great year with the FC Barcelona (only a King’s Cup) and started slowly with the Paris SG, but he finally guided theArgentina towards his first trophy under his reign, the Copa America, kidnapped from the great Brazilian rival.
He would be the second player of the PSG to finish Ballon d’Or, but the first to lift it with the blue and red jersey. The Liberian Georges weah played half of 1995 in Paris, but was crowned in the colors of theAC Milan.
Besides Messi, Lewandowski could well win the votes of the 180 jurors, one journalist per country (the vote ended on October 24).
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“Everyone has seen” Lewandowski
The Ballon d’Or crowns the class and personality of a player, but also his record over the year. “Lewy” would have had every chance in 2020, where he won the Champions League with the Bayern Munich.
But due to the Covid epidemic, the magazine France Football did not award a Ballon d’Or last year.
Corn “everyone has seen what I have done and what I continue to do”, Lewandowski himself told Marca, recalling that he notably broke the incredible record of Gerd Müller by scoring 41 goals in Bundesliga 2020-2021. Behind the center-forward, the whole Poland dream of a first Ballon d’Or.
Karim Benzema also has the class and personality of a laureate, even if he did not win either the Liga nor the C1 with the real Madrid, and failed in 8e final with the France to theEuro.
His recent one-year suspended prison sentence in the “sextape” case, a judgment handed down after the vote closed and against which the attacker appealed, does not plead in his favor either.
But, at 33, “Benz” is at the top of his game, and he guided the Blues to a victory in League of Nations with two iconic goals against Belgium (3-2) then Spain (2-1).
Behind this trio of favorites, we must never underestimate the aura of Cristiano Ronaldo, which carries on his shoulders Manchester United where he returned this summer. But he did not avoid the roadblocks of Global-2022 for the Portugal and only won the Italian cup this year with the Juventus.
Favorite Putellas
Italian of Brazilian origin Jorginho has won everything, Euro with the “Nazionale” and the C1 with Chelsea, but the defensive midfielder does not have the talent of the first cities, and the Ballon d’Or almost always crowns attackers.
It is also for this reason that the guardian Gianluigi Donnarumma, the second chance of the PSG, starts from very far, even if it was elected best Euro player.
The race is even more contested among the girls. For the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg (Lyon), the Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas “has a very good chance of winning”, she told AFP, thanks in particular to his coronation in the Champions League against Chelsea (4-0).
But the beaten “Blues” have nice arguments too, like Sam kerr, also captain of theAustralia, the English Fran kirby, the Danish Pernille Harder or the Canadian Jessie fleming, Olympic champion in Tokyo.
Finally the Chilean Christiane Endler, passed from PSG to Lyon, can dream of succeeding the American icon Megan Rapinoe, Ballon d’Or with Reign FC in 2019, and become the first Ballon d’Or goalkeeper.