While Lionel Messi was not nominated for the 2022 Ballon d’Or, Cristiano Ronaldo was on the list. How come?
France Football magazine as the initiator of the Ballon d’Or has announced 30 potential winners of the trophy. Of the 30 names, Messi and Neymar are not included.
This is a surprise considering Messi was the winner of the edition last year. Moreover, since 2006 Messi has always been on the list of nominees and won seven of them, a record.
It’s natural for the public to question the absence of Messi on the list. Because Messi was able to bring Paris Saint-Germain to win the French League and the Argentine national team to win the 2022 Finalissima.
When Messi did not enter, Ronaldo’s name was there to compete to win the Ballon d’Or. Even though Ronaldo can’t bring Manchester United won a trophy and failed to finish in the top four of the Premier League.
According to France Football, Ronaldo deserves to be nominated because the benchmark is statistics. Messi last season only made 11 goals and 15 assists.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo is MU’s top scorer with 32 goals in all competitions. This includes 18 Premier League goals and two hat-tricks.
In addition, the 37-year-old footballer managed to register himself as the all-time top scorer at the national team level with 117 goals.
“Statistics say otherwise. Ronaldo is the top scorer at international level with 117 goals. He was very important to advance MU in the Champions League group stage with four decisive goals which gave seven points for Man United,” said France Football journalist Emmanuel Bojan as quoted Daily Mail.
“In the Premier League, he scored 18 goals including two hat-tricks. There are a total of 32 goals from 49 matches, it’s not the best statistics but enough to get into the top 30 of the world’s best players.”
(mrp/mrp)
