Some of this year's most formidable players who have been nominated for the Ballon D'Or
After the 2020 Ballon D'Or award was controversially cancelled last year, we finally get to see who will be the latest recipient of the prestigious prize that crowns the world's best player.
Many football fans, journalists and players had tipped Robert Lewandowski to win the award last year after his stellar 55 goal return during the 2019-20 season helped Bayern Munich on their way to the winning the treble.
During that campaign, the clinical Polish striker had the most goals of any player in Europe and was the top-scorer in the Champions League with a stunning 15 goal haul in just 10 matches. He is amongst the favourites for the award again this year.
Here are the 30 nominees for this year's Ballon D'Or:
During that campaign, the clinical Polish striker had the most goals of any player in Europe and was the top-scorer in the Champions League with a stunning 15 goal haul in just 10 matches. He is amongst the favourites for the award again this year.
Here are the 30 nominees for this year's Ballon D'Or:
Credit: William Okafor-Oregan
The race for this award has been the closest it has been in many years. But in this post, I'll be assessing the credentials of this year's favourites for the prize: Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich and Lionel Messi of PSG.
Lionel Messi: Record 7th Ballon D'Or?
Credit: GETTY IMAGES
2021 STATS:
AGE: 34 years
AGE: 34 years
POSITION: Winger
GOALS: 41
ASSISTS: 17
TROPHIES: Copa del Rey (Barcelona), Copa America (Argentina)
Messi has been nothing short of spectacular this year. A rebuilding Barcelona team had struggled for form for most of this year as they crashed early in the UEFA Champions league at the hands of PSG and didn't mount a title challenge in La Liga. But this can't be used to slight Messi's outstanding impact.
Not many can make the argument that he didn't single-handedly drag the Blaugrana throughout their 2021-21 campaign. He put in a man-of-the-match display in Barcelona's 4-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final. His brace in that match made sure Barcelona didn't go back-to-back seasons without winning a trophy; which he has never experienced in his career to date.
The mercurial forward won the Pichichi trophy for scoring the most goals in La Liga (30) in the 2020-21 season and averaged a ridiculous 1.16 combined goals and assists per game.
Credit: AP via ITV.com
But by far his crowning moment was captaining Argentina to their Copa America triumph in the summer where he helped end the country's 28-year wait for an international trophy. He was in inspired form during the tournament, ending it with the most goals (4), most assists (5) and most MOTM awards (4). Of course, he was also named Player of the Tournament too.
His moderate start to life at PSG where he has scored just four in all competitions since joining is the probably the key reason why he isn't running away with the Ballon D'Or at the moment. But his recent hat-trick of assists against Saint-Etienne might just serve as a well-timed silencer to his doubters.
TROPHIES: Copa del Rey (Barcelona), Copa America (Argentina)
Messi has been nothing short of spectacular this year. A rebuilding Barcelona team had struggled for form for most of this year as they crashed early in the UEFA Champions league at the hands of PSG and didn't mount a title challenge in La Liga. But this can't be used to slight Messi's outstanding impact.
Not many can make the argument that he didn't single-handedly drag the Blaugrana throughout their 2021-21 campaign. He put in a man-of-the-match display in Barcelona's 4-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final. His brace in that match made sure Barcelona didn't go back-to-back seasons without winning a trophy; which he has never experienced in his career to date.
The mercurial forward won the Pichichi trophy for scoring the most goals in La Liga (30) in the 2020-21 season and averaged a ridiculous 1.16 combined goals and assists per game.
Credit: AP via ITV.com
But by far his crowning moment was captaining Argentina to their Copa America triumph in the summer where he helped end the country's 28-year wait for an international trophy. He was in inspired form during the tournament, ending it with the most goals (4), most assists (5) and most MOTM awards (4). Of course, he was also named Player of the Tournament too.
His moderate start to life at PSG where he has scored just four in all competitions since joining is the probably the key reason why he isn't running away with the Ballon D'Or at the moment. But his recent hat-trick of assists against Saint-Etienne might just serve as a well-timed silencer to his doubters.
Robert Lewandowski: An over-due moment finally arrives?
Credit: GETTY IMAGES
2021 STATS:
AGE: 33 years
AGE: 33 years
POSITION: Striker
GOALS: 64
ASSISTS: 10
TROPHIES: Bundesliga, Club World Cup, DFL-Super cup (Bayern Munich)
Lewandowski may not have a treble to his name this year but his devastating form has been eerily similar to the year before. Yet again he has scored the most goals this year in the top European leagues with over 60 goals and has been unstoppable in domestic competitions.
A massive milestone for him was achieved when he scored a record-breaking 41 Bundesliga goals in the 2020-21 season. A feat that surpassed German legend Gerd Muller's 49-year-standing record of 40. He did this in just 29 league matches, averaging a mind-boggling return of a goal every 60 minutes.
The Pole's brilliant impact on his team can also be noted in Bayern Munich's defeat to PSG in the quarter-finals of the Champions League this year, as he missed out due to injury.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES
TROPHIES: Bundesliga, Club World Cup, DFL-Super cup (Bayern Munich)
Lewandowski may not have a treble to his name this year but his devastating form has been eerily similar to the year before. Yet again he has scored the most goals this year in the top European leagues with over 60 goals and has been unstoppable in domestic competitions.
A massive milestone for him was achieved when he scored a record-breaking 41 Bundesliga goals in the 2020-21 season. A feat that surpassed German legend Gerd Muller's 49-year-standing record of 40. He did this in just 29 league matches, averaging a mind-boggling return of a goal every 60 minutes.
The Pole's brilliant impact on his team can also be noted in Bayern Munich's defeat to PSG in the quarter-finals of the Champions League this year, as he missed out due to injury.
Credit: GETTY IMAGES
The Bavarian giants only lost on away-goals as they drew 3-3 and it was hard to miss that a platter of opportunities they created in both ties would have very likely been finished off had Lewandowski been able to feature.
Internationally, Lewandowski did his country proud as he scored 3 goals in 3 group-stage games at the European Championships this year. Poland didn't progress to the K.O. stages of Euro 2020, but not least due to the efforts of Lewandowski. He scored all but one of their four goals, two of them coming in their final game.
Conclusion
Conclusion
It is such a tough call to make between these two superstars. Whilst other players have also made a strong case to potentially win this year's Ballon D'Or, the best of them all this year has to be Lionel Messi.
Some may try to diminish his chances as a number of players have started the current season in much richer form such as Mo Salah and Karim Benzema. Others will point to Jorginho's haul of major trophies with Chelsea and Italy, respectively. But Lionel Messi's feats just about edge those of any other player this year.
Arguably, Bayern Munich would have won the Bundesliga even without Lewandowski, albeit in a much tighter race. But the trophies won by Barcelona and Argentina were heavily influenced by Messi's performances and almost certainly neither team would have had anything to celebrate in 2021 without him.
His seventh Ballon D'Or is loading...
Some may try to diminish his chances as a number of players have started the current season in much richer form such as Mo Salah and Karim Benzema. Others will point to Jorginho's haul of major trophies with Chelsea and Italy, respectively. But Lionel Messi's feats just about edge those of any other player this year.
Arguably, Bayern Munich would have won the Bundesliga even without Lewandowski, albeit in a much tighter race. But the trophies won by Barcelona and Argentina were heavily influenced by Messi's performances and almost certainly neither team would have had anything to celebrate in 2021 without him.
His seventh Ballon D'Or is loading...
(Lead Image Credit: William Okafor-Oregan)
Comments
Post a Comment