Lionel Messi is one of the three finalists for The Best award given by FIFA and which he already won in 2019

FIFA confirmed this Friday that Lionel Messi is one of the three finalists for the award The Best to the best footballer of the 2022 season. He shares the shortlist with the French Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema. The man from Rosario already won the statuette in 2019, and if he wins it again he will match the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the Pole Robert Lewandowskiboth with two. The prizes will be delivered next Monday, February 27 in Paris.

Mbappé, Messi’s teammate at PSG, was the World Cup goalscorer, with 8 goals, while Benzema (absent in Qatar due to injury), led Real Madrid to the last Champions League. The award has been given since 2016 and only once was the Flea left off the podium: it was in 2018, when it finished in fifth place after the disappointing performance of the Argentine national team in the World Cup in Russia. The winner that year was the Croatian Luka Modric.

Beyond his teammates, the captain of the Argentine national team is the top candidate to keep the award given by FIFA. After all, he is the best footballer from the last World Cup, in which Argentina won the World Cup and was able to add their third star. In addition, no one escapes that lifting the trophy was his career dream, and that he achieved it after a tournament in which he went from low to high and ended up as the undisputed figure of his team. As the award study period spans from August 8, 2021 to December 18, 2022, What was produced by the Rosario footballer in his last year in Barcelona and in PSG, his club since the middle of last year, is also taken into account.

The influence of the World Cup in this edition of The Best awards is present in other Argentine shortlisted and finalists: Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez is one of the three best goalkeepers in the world and will compete against Thibaut Courtois (champion of the Champions League and of Spain with Real Madrid) and against the Moroccan Yassine Bounou (of a great World Cup with his team, revelation in Qatar 2022, and current goalkeeper for Seville, from Spain). Lionel Scaloni, coach of the Argentine national team, is also among the three best in the world at his job. The man who guided the national team to lift the World Cup competes against two historical figures: the Spanish Pep Guardiola (Premier winner with Manchester City) and the Italian Carlo Ancelotti (he won LaLiga and the Champions League with Real Madrid).

The three finalists for The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award are Beth Mead (England/Arsenal), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride/San Diego Wave) and Alexia Putellas (Spain/FC Barcelona).

The finalists for The Best awards were selected by a jury made up of coaches from the men’s national teams, their captains, a specialized journalist from each country, and fan voting through the FIFA website. The votes were received until February 3 and, once the winners are known at the gala on February 27, FIFA will publish the details of the number of votes each one received.

Lionel Messi could well rent a house that serves as a repository for all the awards he has received in his sporting life: seven Ballon d’Orssix Golden Boots (awarded to the top scorer in the European leagues), one The Best (for now), two awards for the best player in the World Cup (Brazil 2014 and Qatar 2022) and dozens of individual distinctions, as well as nominations for teams of the year: it is a fixture among the best eleven in a season since 2007. That is, for 16 years. In 2006, moreover, he won the prize for the best young player in the world. And in 2019 the CIES (International Center for Sports Studies) distinguished him as the footballer of the decade.

The nomination for The Best comes to Messi at a time when he is injured. The PSG announced this Friday that the Flea have hamstring discomfort and that it will be low in the match against Monaco, for Ligue 1. However, everything suggests that it will be available for the first leg match for the round of 16 of the Champions League against Bayern Munich (Germany), which will be played next Tuesday in the Parc des Princes. The French Kylian Mbappé, also with physical problems, will miss the clash, transcendental for the aspirations of the Parisian team.

The medical report reported by the Parisian club reports that the 35-year-old captain of the Argentine national team “received a blow to the back of the thigh against Olympique de Marseille (last Wednesday for the French Cup) and will be inactive for 48 hours. His return to training is scheduled for Monday. Christophe Galtier, PSG coach, referred to the Rosario’s absence in the match against Monaco: “Not having Messi at Monaco will surely be a problem, but it is part of a coach’s life to deal with it. You have to work hard to be better mentally and win more duels in midfield”. Galtier continued: “We will have to play differently, have a more compact team to look for the quality of those who are there.”

“He has suffered muscle fatigue. He will return to training on Monday, the eve of the match against Bayern. I think that the ‘uncertain’ thing can be set aside”, Galtier added. in relation to the comments in the press that gave Messi as a “doubt” to play against the Germans. DT is sure: the Argentine will be among the headlines against the Bavarians.

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