He was chosen by the journalists of the French newspaper, the same one that harshly criticized him and gave him a couple of postponements during the first part of 2022.
Lionel Messi he beat again Kylian Mbappe. And this time, as a visitor. The prestigious French sports newspaper The team distinguished Rosario with the trophy “Champion of Champions”with which it rewards the best athlete of each year.
The result comes from the vote of the newspaper’s journalists and La Pulga surpassed Mbappé, Rafael Nadal, the cyclist Remco Evenepoel and the Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, among the first five most voted.
Messi was left with 808 points and doubled his PSG teammate who finished with 381 points. Yes, a huge difference.
It is necessary to remember that L’Equipe was very critical of the performances of Messi in his first season in Paris Saint-Germain. In fact, he handed out a few postponements in the games in which his team stumbled in its quest to win the Champions League.
The “Champion of Champions” award has been given to Frenchmen since 1946 and in 1976 it was opened to athletes from the rest of the world. The first Argentine to win it was Diego Armando Maradona in 1986, after his brilliant performance at the World Cup in Mexico.
Messi had already won it in 2011, when he won all the titles with Barcelona: the Club World Cup, the Champions League, the European Super Cup, the Spanish League and the Spanish Super Cup, as well as being the top scorer in the Champions League and taking the Golden Ball.
Leo did not play this Friday in the 3-1 victory of Paris Saint-Germain against Châteauroux for the French Cup. Neither did Mbappé and Neymar. The goals were scored by the French Hugo Ekitike and the Spanish Carlos Soler and Juan Bernat.
Messi will surely wear the PSG jersey again next week, in the Ligue 1 match against Angers. “Leo trained on Wednesday and Thursday. He won’t play on Friday. We’re making sure he’s ready for the next game. We’ll take stock, I’ll be very attentive to what he tells me, but we want him to be available for the next game,” he said. Christophe Galtier at the press conference prior to the presentation for the French Cup.
The great figure of the Argentine National Team returned to the French capital last Tuesday from Rosario, where he had taken a few days off after the victory with his team in the World Cup in Qatar.
On Wednesday, he returned to training with PSG and was greeted with applause from his teammates. “It was important to him that his teammates and all the employees of the training center celebrate at home. He was happy and excited about this celebration,” Galtier pointed out.
There was still no face-to-face with Mbappé, who, although he resumed training only three days after the great match, later took a vacation and is in the United States. His partner went to the other great protagonist of the World Cup final between France and Argentina with his three goals that were not enough to thwart the fairy tale that was lived in the Lusail stadium.
