Lionel Messi has been confirmed because the 2021 Ballon d’Or winner, in accordance with the credible Portuguese tv channel RTP.
It introduced final week that Messi will obtain the well-known Golden Ball at this 12 months’s ceremony in Paris on Nov. 29 — a record-extending seventh award for the Argentine.
The report claimed the 34-year-old has already executed the customary interview with France Football journal, after beating Robert Lewandowski and longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo to arguably essentially the most prestigious particular person prize in world soccer.
Should the information be confirmed as Portuguese tv says, the award will primarily be attributed to the truth that Messi received the Copa América with Argentina, lastly ending his lengthy look forward to victory in a global event. Not even his largest followers can declare that his membership kind, for Barcelona final season and PSG now, is a contributing issue.
It’s a choice I discover stunning, because it exhibits a scarcity of coherence in the awarding of the prize.
Robert Lewandowski was instrumental throughout Bayern Munich’s 2020-21 marketing campaign, successful one more Bundesliga and the SuperCup, and scoring a outstanding 48 targets in 40 video games to win the Golden Boot for high scorer. The Poland worldwide additionally began 2021-22 in related vogue, scoring seven instances in his first 5 league video games and scoring twice at Camp Nou, when Bayern overcame Barcelona 3-0.
On the opposite hand, if the argument is that group trophies play a serious half in the award, then the Ballon d’Or must be given to Jorginho after he received the Euro 202 with the Italian nationwide group and the Champions League with Chelsea.
My first query: why Messi and never Lewandowski or Jorginho for the prize?
And second: why not Mohamed Salah?
Sure, many individuals will argue that final season Liverpool ended up in a disappointing third place in the Premier League after successful it so comprehensively the earlier 12 months; that Salah misplaced the league’s high scorer award and has been a peripheral determine for his nation in the qualifiers for the African Nations Cup and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
These similar folks ask why Salah would have any hope of successful this 12 months’s Ballon d’Or.
For me the reply is straightforward. Because immediately Salah is one of the best participant in the world and regardless of the assorted voting standards, acknowledging that truth is, or must be, the primary goal of the award.
Salah’s present supervisor, Jurgen Klopp, additionally thinks the Egyptian is one of the best participant in the world and he mentioned so simply three weeks in the past.
However, Salah didn’t win any title along with his nationwide group, which appears to have been decisive for awarding the prize to Messi, in accordance with Portuguese tv and others opinion makers.
But certainly right here Salah is to not blame, because the Egyptian group has not participated in any event since 2019.
To be clear, if Ballon d’Or voters are to attribute their votes primarily based on trophies received at particular person and collective degree, the primary candidates have to be Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho.
However, since each an summary of a participant’s profession and present particular person kind are taken under consideration in the vote, there appears little doubt that the award ought to go to the Liverpool star.
Salah has to this point scored 142 targets in 215 video games for the Reds since his switch from Roma in 2017. He has received two Golden Boots, a PFA Player of the Year award, the Champions League, Premier League, European Super Cup and Club World Cup.
As regards his present kind, maybe it was necessary that at the top of Liverpool’s 5-0 demolition of Manchester United, Salah left Old Trafford holding the match ball after scoring an outstanding hat-trick.
It was a well timed contribution from Salah, a recent reminder of his beautiful kind solely a day earlier than voting for the award ended.
Past expertise tells us that the primary candidates are determined shortly earlier than the deadline for voting.
Is there anybody in world soccer enjoying higher than Salah proper now? I’m certain not. The Egyptian worldwide has been a star for years. It’s time for him to obtain the prize he richly deserves.
With all due respect to my journalist colleagues from Portuguese tv, I hope the choice on Nov. 29 will likely be totally different from the one they’ve reported.