The world went abuzz with debates, discourses, altercations and every possible incarnation of fight last night as there was chaos and there was a tale of triumph that hardly the neutral football followers could have believed. Lionel Messi won his 7th Ballon d’Or after a hiatus of two years where the award was stopped due to the raging pandemic.
Despite Lewandowski pulling off an absolute showdown in the last couple of seasons and with the whispers spreading like wild fire, the Polish striker couldn’t savour the last laugh. Much to his woes, the award for the year 2020 wasn’t even given and the Argentine skipper walked away with the most prestigious individual award in football. Much to the surprise of the world, Ronaldo couldn’t even in the top five.
To underline the achievements that helped Messi to bag the mighty prize, he almost single-handedly ushered a woeful Argentina to the finals where he switched off and the remaining team teetered along the fringes of mediocrity to ride on a Di Maria strike to win the Copa America.
Though he didn’t have much credentials to show for Barcelona as the Catalans could hardly post those glittering labels that they used to in the past, he still outshone others. There is a boatload of debates doing the rounds about why the Polish striker should have been awarded the honour and yet the planet celebrates the success of one of the greatest footballers of all time.
We will take a glimpse at all the awards that were given at the ceremony and the winners who bagged it.
Ballon d’Or Men – Lionel Messi
Ballon d’Or Women – Alexia Putellas
Ballon d’Or U21 player – Pedri (Kopa Trophy)
Ballon d’Or Goal-Keeper – Gianluigi Donarumma (Yashin Trophy)
Now with all said and done, Twitter was aghast as the Portuguese marksman couldn’t even come close within the ballpark of glory and had to be sated with a number 6 finish.
Messi won the balon d'Or yet I'm seeing more tweets about Ronaldo. He's genuinely the most hated footballer of all time
— Raf (@CFC_Raf) November 29, 2021
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I can beat my chest and say that if it was Ronaldo with Lewandoski's number he would have won the balon D'Or..
Ronaldo my GOAT has a way of disrupting this fraudulent ceremony from giving the award to their golden boy..
AdvertisementLewandoski no get PR na why…
— #NFT Ξ Artist #MUFC 🔴🔥 (@PrinceChrisMUFC) November 29, 2021
Last time Messi won the Balon d’or in 2019
Ronaldo scored in consecutive 13 games
Run it back? pic.twitter.com/67d1ktiE4C— sayantan ⚪️ (@sayantanxcr7) November 29, 2021
Balon D’or Organizers to Ronaldo: pic.twitter.com/El3HjaQoga
— Ayo 💥 (@ayodeji_10) November 29, 2021
Jorginho finished higher than Cristiano Ronaldo in the rankings for the Balon D’or let that sink it pic.twitter.com/hSU9S3jSnY
— Greenwood’s Greatness (@TheStarboyMUFC) November 29, 2021
When you look at how he has been taunted by FIFA Presidents, UEFA Presidents, Balon D'or officials for no reason whatsoever.
It's honestly a miracle Cristiano Ronaldo even won 5 Ballon D'ors after being the most hated footballer ever. pic.twitter.com/DDr7GWn1zj
— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) November 29, 2021
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Ronaldo responds to Pascal Ferre's claim that his only ambition is to retire with more Ballon d'Or's than Messi. pic.twitter.com/K8spyBy2Cu
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 29, 2021
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Sixth-place Ronaldo finishes outside the top five in the Ballon d’Or for the first time since 2010 pic.twitter.com/l64i6AChQJ
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 29, 2021
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