Seven at home… Since Monday evening and the presentation of the prestigious award accompanied by an illumination of the Eiffel Tower in his honor, Lionel Messi has seven Golden Balls to shine in his trophy cabinet. Despite a first title won with the selection of Argentina last summer in Copa America, the new coronation of the Pulga, 34, was not obvious this time and can legitimately be debated.
The PSG midfielder has in any case received the homage of King Pelé, of which he exceeded this season the record of 77 goals scored for the national team. “Congratulations Leo Messi for this other Ballon d’Or. It is certainly a fair tribute to an unparalleled talent, wrote on social networks the Brazilian, who never won this award but was recognized in 2000 as the best player of the twentieth century by Fifa experts. Seven times, thank you very much! “
On the German side, on the other hand, we grind our teeth. And one wonders how many goals will have to score Robert Lewandowski, the center forward of Bayern Munich (he is at 64 in 2021), to hope to win the title which escaped him by 33 points (613 to 580) …
Sacred Golden Ball in 1990, the former Mannschaft legend Lothar Matthäus is fulminating. “Honestly, I don’t understand any more, he blurted out Monday night on Sky Germany. With all due respect to Messi and the other great named players, none had deserved it as much as Lewandowski. “In Le Parisien, Jean-Pierre Papin, Ballon d’Or 30 years ago, was the first to say that” Leo does not deserve the Ballon d’Or this year. “To elect Messi this year would devalue the Golden Ball since that would mean that we no longer give the possibility to high-performance players to win the trophy”, underlined JPP.
Barça found a bit of a smile in a more than gloomy period
Same story in the German press where Bild speaks outright of “scandal”. “In 2021, Lewandowski set a new record for goals in the Bundesliga (41 goals), he became champion again, plagues the daily life across the Rhine. This year, he is the top scorer in the Champions League (9 goals) and the Bundesliga (14 goals). But this is obviously not enough. “
On the side of Spain, on the other hand, we are jubilant. Especially in Catalonia, where Barça found a bit of a smile in a more than gloomy period for the club, with the women’s Ballon d’Or for Alexia Putellas, the Kopa trophy for best youngster for Pedri and the victory of Messi, blaugrana until last August before moving to Paris. “Golden treble”, headlines the daily Sport. “Blaugrana gold”, summarizes Mundo Deportivo. For the Madrid newspaper As, “They are gold”.
In Argentina, we insist on the decisive role of the triumph of the albiceleste at the Maracana stadium of the Brazilian enemy last summer. “The title won in selection greatly influenced this consecration” summarizes Olé. In La Nacion, we recall that Messi now has as many Ballons d’Or alone as those of the Germans and the Dutch, the two most represented countries in the history of the France Football prize.
But we also know how to recognize that the genius of Rosario was hot. “Pardon Robert, once again France Football was wrong”, can we read in a column, paraphrasing a “Pardon Andres” written in 2018 by Pascal Ferré, editor-in-chief of France Football, for the attention of Iniesta. The Barça midfielder never had the consecration he deserved because of a certain Messi …
