Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi is being tipped as the overwhelming favourite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or and be crowned the footballer of the year.
Photo via Getty Images
It comes after he guided his national team to the Copa America title over the weekend, in addition to being named the tournament’s top scorer and best player.
It caps an impressive international and club campaign for Messi, who was also instrumental in Barcelona’s Copa Del Rey success this past season.
Some of the other candidates in the running for the Ballon d’Or – including Kylian Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski, Kevin de Bruyne, N’golo Kante and Cristiano Ronaldo – all had disappointing campaigns at Euro 2020.
Meanwhile, Messi’s Copa America success brings him level with Ronaldo, who also has one international trophy to his name after guiding Portugal to the European Championship title in 2016.
It effectively ends the four year-long argument that Ronaldo was the ‘better player’ compared to Messi, based on their accomplishment at the national level at the time.
Photo via Reuters
What’s more, Messi has already won six Ballon d’Or honours to Ronaldo’s five.
Winning a seventh will give the Argentine an advantage over Ronaldo in the unofficial race to be recognised as the greatest footballer of all time.
By: Nicholas Darren John
