By Yara Hassan | Staff Writer
Recently, reports have been leaked that Messi will be the winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or, the most coveted individual award in football since 1956. If Messi does in fact win the Ballon d’Or this year, it will be his 7th award, and this will put him two titles ahead of his nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo. Although many believed these leaks, France Football’s editor-in-chief called it a big bluff. Therefore, the big question remains: Who’s going to win the Ballon D’or 2021?
While the final shortlist of 30 players was revealed, several names have stood out above the rest. The top contenders for the award appear to be Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema.
Lionel Messi
There’s no doubt that Messi immensely helped Barcelona to win the Copa del Rey and finish third in La Liga as he is the top goal scorer of La Liga 2020/21. Still, the reason behind most fans believing he’s going to win his seventh Ballon d’Or is thanks to his international achievements. He helped Argentina beat Brazil in the 2021 Copa America Final and win their first major title since 1993. At the Copa America he had the joint-most goals (4) and chances created (21), as well as the most goal contributions (9), assists (5), shots (28), and shots on target (11). He was then crowned Player of the Tournament.
Robert Lewandowski
Around this time last year, the Ballon d’Or 2020 was canceled. Many believed that Lewandowski was robbed, as he should have been the winner, after scoring 55 goals in 47 games during Bayern Munich’s treble-winning campaign in 2019-2020. Lewandowski kept up his scoring rate with 48 goals in 40 games last season and won the European golden shoe and another Bundesliga title with Bayern.
Karim Benzema
Benzema presented an extraordinary performance against Belgium and Spain with his national team in the Nations League finals last season. His appearance in these matches made a drastic difference in the results. But he didn’t manage to win any title last season, neither individually nor with Real Madrid. Despite the fact that his numbers may be underwhelming, his goals were crucial.
Based on these statistics, it’s reasonable to think that Robert Lewandowski would have in fact been most likely to be the Ballon d’Or winner of last year’s ceremony. However, this year’s winner is hard to determine. And while Benzema seems like a worthy opponent, he wasn’t able to win enough awards this year, where he only won the Nations League. One the other hand, Messi was able to win the Copa del Rey with Barcelona and Copa America with Argentina, while finishing as the top goal scorer in both La Liga and Copa America, placing him a total of 3 awards ahead of Benzema.
In conclusion, I believe that Lionel Messi is most-liked to win the Golden Ball award for the 2021 season, but nothing is set yet. We will have to wait until the ceremony, which will be taking place on the 29th of November, to know the definitive answer. Until then, who do you think will grab the 2021 Ballon d’Or?