Lionel Messi is expected to receive the Ballon d’Or, the award for the best footballer of the 2022/23 season, for the eighth time on Monday, as yet another ‘ovation’ for carrying Argentina to the world title in 2022.
At the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Paris, the 36-year-old Argentine footballer will thus widen the gap that separates him from all the competition, in particular with three trophies more than the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, second in the rankings, with five.
His performance in Qatar 2022, in which he was voted the best player after contributing to the Argentine title with seven goals and three assists, in itself justifies the choice of the French magazine France Football.
In total, Messi scored 38 goals and 26 assists in the 2022/23 season, with which, in addition to the world title, he also won the French championship and the Gallic Super Cup with Paris Saint-Germain, where he has since moved. the North Americans of Inter Miami.
Everything indicates – from the ‘odds’ to alleged leaks of information reported by newspapers and experts – that the Rosário player will thus repeat the performances of 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021 and succeed Karim Benzema.
The Frenchman took advantage of the change in the rules of the Ballon d’Or, which in the last edition was awarded for the first time to the best player of the season (2021/22) and not of the calendar year, thus excluding the 2022. World Cup, unlike what happened with the FIFA award.
That is why the Argentinian has already had eight elections considered among the best of the year by the body that oversees world football, the last one announced on February 27, also in Paris, and at a time when he was still playing in the ‘city of lights’. .
In this vote, Messi scored 52 points, against 44 from Frenchman Kylian Mbappé and 34 from Karim Benzema, and in the Ballon d’Or he should be seconded by Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.
Haaland was the big figure for Manchester City in 2022/23, scoring 52 goals in 53 games and contributing decisively to the victories in the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup, the first ‘treble’ in the history of the citizens’. ”.
The absence of the 2022 World Cup, in which Norway also failed to qualify for Euro2024, complicated the ‘accounts’ of the young Norwegian of 23 years, who does not ‘appear’ equally in the most important matches, namely in the ‘Champions’ final, even which ended the season with 56 goals, in 57 games.
Central defender Rúben Dias and midfielder Bernardo Silva, also key players in City’s great season, are in turn competing for the title of best Portuguese player, in the absence of Ronaldo, who was not on the list of 30 nominees for the Ballon. d’Or.2022/23.
As for the other prizes that will be awarded during the ceremony, it is a ‘given’ that Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí will win the women’s trophy, succeeding her compatriot and teammate Alexia Putellas, winner in 2021 and 2022.
Just like Messi, the FC Barcelona player was the big figure of the last Women’s World Cup in the men’s game. He was crowned the best player after leading Spain to victory after leading the Catalans to victory in the ‘Champions’.
In Paris, the best young player, together with the Englishman Jude Bellingham, for what he did in 2022/23 at Borussia Dortmund, will also be chosen as favorite on a list for the Kopa Trophy, in which among the 10 chosen the Portuguese center António Silva , from Benfica.
As for the Lev Yashin Trophy, for the best goalkeeper, it should be given to the Argentinian Emiliano Martínez, who plays for Aston Villa and was decisive in the world title ‘albi celestes’.
Source: DN
