Lionel Messi won as expected in the evening of 30th October his eighth Ballon d’Or and making history as the first sportsman who achieved this number.
The second place is Cristiano Ronaldo with five Ballon d’Ors, to create a unique double hegemony in football. Lionel Messi was the oldest of all the competitors, being at the same time the oldest player who won this prize at the age of 36 years and 128 days.
The real debate over the Ballon d’Or is with the competition that is going down in this sport.
He won the prize after winning the World Cup, but his performances with Inter Miami, not being able to qualify Inter Miami in the MLS playoff and the intensity that Lionel plays are all sufficient data to raise a question. We have Erling and Kylian, both amazing athletes playing at high intensity in Ligue 1 and the Premier League.
Is this way of voting actually killing the competition between athletes in football?
The competitiveness of these leagues cannot be compared with the level that MLS offers and the fact that it was Kylian Mbappe who scored three goals in the World Cup Final, makes us wonder about the reasons that journalists made the selection of Lionel for the eighth Ballon d’Or.
Messi beat Halaand, who was positioned second and despite his goals and the treble of the last season, he was not selected as the best player of the year. But let’s take a look at the top 10 list before continuing further and explaining the reasons for the selection.
Ballon d’Or top 10
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina and PSG/Inter Miami)
2. Erling Haaland (Norway and Manchester City)
3. Kylian Mbappe (France and PSG)
4. Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium and Manchester City)
5. Rodri (Spain and Manchester City)
6. Vinicius Jr (Brazil and Real Madrid)
7. Julian Alvarez (Argentina and Manchester City)
8. Victor Osimhen (Nigeria and Napoli)
9. Bernardo Silva (Portugal and Manchester City)
10. Luka Modric (Croatia and Real Madrid)
The stats
The stats of Lionel and Erling are quite different and considering their personal performances at the National team level and club level we can notice the difference.
Lionel played in a total of 55 matches, scoring 32 goals and providing 25 assists in all the competitions. Erling Haaland played in a total of 53 matches across all competitions scoring 52 goals and providing nine assists.
He scored 36 goals in the Premier League, which is the toughest league in the World, and 12 goals in the UEFA Champions League.
So the numbers are quite clear and for the sake of the game, the ones who voted should have known all these. One of the reasons could have been the great games that Lionel played in the World Cup.
The other reason is that he played a good season with PSG and this made France Football consider him the first alternative to win this trophy.
Perhaps Lionel’s style of play convinces the journalists who voted to give him the ultimate stage and ignore at least for now the talent of the young competitors.
Mbappe has outstanding performances with the PSG and he was in third place.
We might never know the reasons that led to these conclusions, but we have a legend and the fairytale somehow pleases the fans… for now. Better athletes will show up and one thing is for sure, they won’t be as privileged as Lionel was…
