Messi Conquers Soccer’s Golden Ball for Sixth Time, Becoming Greatest Winner

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The ‘Ballon d’Or’ (“Golden Ball”), a renowned award bestowed by France Football magazine, has again been awarded to Lionel Messi. On Monday, in an event held in Paris, the star of Barcelona and Argentina had his talent recognized by being chosen the best player of the past season.

Messi‘s award comes after a season in which he led Barcelona to the Spanish League title. It adds to the collection of five other Golden Balls, the first received in 2009. Later, he would again be awarded in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015 and now in 2019, echoing the similar FIFA award he had won this year.

Thus, Messi, in addition to ending his four-year drought with no Golden Ball, becomes its greatest winner, holding six, one more than the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi, as usual, shone last season for Barcelona, scoring 51 goals in 50 games. But in terms of achievements, with the exception of the Spanish, he failed in other competitions, losing with his team in the Copa del Rey final and the Champions League semifinals. He also lost in the semifinals of the Copa America with Argentina.

The award was announced by Didier Drogba, but Messi received the prize from Croatian Luka Modric, who won the Golden Ball in 2018, but this time did not even figure in the top 30.

Messi had Dutchman Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool defender, as his main competitor, so much so that he came second. Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus finished third. This “podium” is the same as the last edition of The Best, an award granted by FIFA. And the trio were followed by two Liverpool players from Africa, Senegal’s Mané and Egyptian Salah, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Alisson was the main Brazilian highlight at the Golden Ball event. The Liverpool player was elected the best goalkeeper in the world, winning the Yashin Award, in addition to ranking seventh in the voting that involved athletes in all positions.

Brazil had another contestant in the dispute for Best Goalkeeper award, Ederson, of Manchester City. But he finished behind Alisson, as is usual with the Brazilian national team, where Alisson is Tite’s favorite. Ederson finished third behind Barcelona’s German Ter Stagen.

“It’s a great honor to be here with these great players. I want to thank my family and my wife, who support me everywhere I go. My parents in Brazil and God. It’s a great honor to win the Champions League, individual awards. I don’t feel lucky, I feel blessed and grateful for everything that God has given me in my life. I thank my team-mates and the technical staff,” Alisson said.

Last season, Alisson won the titles of the European Champions League and the America Cup. And he performed very well in this achievement, with only one goal suffered in the victory of the Brazilian team. He was also voted the best goalkeeper in the world by FIFA and the English Championship.

Newly created by France Football, the Best Goalkeeper award had seven other competitors: And from fourth to tenth position, in order, were Jan Oblak (Slovenia / Athletic Madrid), Hugo Lloris (France / Tottenham), Manuel Neuer (Germany / Bayern Munich), Andre Onana (Cameroon / Ajax), Kepa Arrizabalaga (Spain / China), Wojciech Szczesny (Poland / Juventus) and Samir Handanovic (Slovenia / Inter Milan).

Brazilian soccer also disputed other award categories handed out by the renowned magazine. Among the players, striker Roberto Firmino from Liverpool was in 17th place. Defender Marquinhos, of Paris Saint-Germain, ranked 28th.

Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior, on the other hand, ran for Best Under-21 Player award, finishing fourth. In this case, the award went to Matthijs de Ligt, a Dutch defender who played for Ajax last season and is now with Juventus. Second in the category was Borussia Dortmund’s and England’s Jadon Sancho, followed by Portugal’s João Félix, who left Benfica for Atlético de Madrid at the end of last season.

In the women’s awards, the Golden Ball went to Megan Rapinoe, who was also voted FIFA’s best player in the world this year. The 34-year-old athlete led the US national team to the world title and was a leading player in the fight for respect for diversity and equal conditions for female players in relation to male athletes.

English midfielder Lucy Bronze, from Lyon, was placed second in the voting for the Golden Ball, with American Alex Morgan coming third in the ranking. In this case, they reversed their positions in comparison to the prize awarded by FIFA.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo