Lewandowski Tipped To Win The Ballon d’Or As Messi Eyes Seventh Prize

As the annual awards ceremony returns Monday after being canceled last year due to the pandemic, Robert Lewandowski threatens to deprive Lionel Messi a record-extending seventh Ballon d’Or.

Last season, the Bayern Munich and Poland striker set a Bundesliga record by scoring 41 goals in just 29 games, breaking the previous mark set by the late Gerd Mueller.

After a strong start to the new season, Lewandowski, 33, won FIFA’s trophy for best male player of 2020 and has the support of both coach Julian Nagelsmann and Bayern teammate Thomas Mueller.

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“When you see the way ‘Lewy’ is playing right now, he needs to win the thing on Monday,” Mueller remarked of a player who has already scored 25 goals in 20 outings this season.

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have won 11 of the past 12 Ballon d’Or awards, with the exception of 2018, when Luka Modric led Real Madrid to another Champions League title and Croatia to the World Cup final.

“Robert deserves to win it because, in my opinion, he has been more ridiculously consistent than any other player,” Nagelsmann told Munich newspaper Abendzeitung last month.

While Messi’s time at PSG has been hit and miss, the Argentine scored 30 league goals and won the Copa del Rey in his final season with Barcelona.

Argentina won the Copa America in July, ending a 28-year wait for the title after defeating Brazil at the Maracana.
“What I was able to achieve with the national team was my biggest achievement,” Messi recently told Catalan daily Sport.

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“It was the best given all that it cost, after having fought and fought for that success.”

“Winning the Ballon d’Or would be spectacular in terms of what it would mean to win one more.” The seventh would be completely insane.”

The last time Ronaldo won the award was in 2017. Despite scoring in all five European games during his second stay at Manchester United, the all-time leading scorer in the Champions League appears to be an outsider for a sixth Ballon d’Or.

Following a fantastic year with Real Madrid, Karim Benzema received encouragement from Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane, and tennis star Rafael Nadal.

However, the France player was recently sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence for his role in a scheme to use a sex film to blackmail his former international teammate Mathieu Valbuena. He was also fined 75,000 euros ($84,000) for his actions.

The 30-man shortlist includes five members of Italy’s Euro 2020-winning squad, including Chelsea midfielder and Champions League champion Jorginho.

Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, both considered future Ballon d’Or winners, are also included, as is Neymar and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, the Premier League’s top scorer this season.

Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas, the UEFA women’s player of the year, is a strong contender to succeed Megan Rapinoe, the 2019 Ballon d’Or winner. The American was not one among the twenty finalists.

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Following their Champions League victory, Putellas is joined by Barca teammates Jennifer Hermoso and Lieke Martens, as well as five Chelsea players, including Australia’s Sam Kerr.

Christine Sinclair, a gold medalist for Canada at the Olympics, is also a contender.

The Kopa Trophy will be awarded to the finest young men’s player, while the Yashin Trophy will be awarded to ten goalkeepers.