2023-10-30 23:31:57
Lionel Messi won the 2023 Ballon d’Or in Paris on Monday evening. He obtains the most prestigious individual award in football for the eighth time. An absolute record and a consecration for the “Pulga”, who won the first World Cup of his career in Qatar in 2022.
Published on: 10/30/2023 – 10:31 p.m. Modified on: 10/30/2023 – 11:01 p.m.
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And the 2023 Ballon d’Or is awarded to… Lionel Messi. The Argentine striker won the most prestigious individual award in football on Monday October 30 in Paris. This is his eighth coronation, a trophy which crowns a 2022 World Cup where the “Pulga” lifted the first World Cup of his career after Argentina’s victory in the final against France.
And in the end, Messi wins. At the twilight of a prodigious career, Lionel Messi took the stage for the eighth time at the Châtelet theater in Paris… Crowned world champion for the first time, author of seven goals during the 2022 World Cup – including a double in final -, the 36-year-old Argentinian was ahead of the Norwegian Erling Haaland and the Frenchman Kylian Mbappé on the podium.
After 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019 with Barça and 2021 under the colors of PSG, Messi adds one more line to a breathtaking record that he completed in 2021 and 2022 with a first Copa America and therefore the World Holy Grail.
His young runners-up, aged 23 and 24, nevertheless had arguments. Scoring 52 goals in 53 matches in his first year in England, Haaland gave Manchester City his first Champions League, but also the Premier League and the FA Cup to complete a sparkling treble.
The Copa America-2024, the swan song of the “Pulga”?
Vice-world champion with France, Mbappé finished top scorer in the competition (eight goals), one unit ahead of Messi, including a classy hat-trick in the final. Champions of France with PSG, Mbappé like Messi, however, failed in the Champions League.
But it was the Dantesque final of the World Cup, on December 18 at the Lusail stadium, and its outcome (3-3, 4-2 in the tabs) which made the difference for the “Pulga”, which improved its record with now three more Ballons d’Or than Cristiano Ronaldo (five).
Since 2008 (first trophy for Ronaldo) and 2009 (first for Messi), the two ogres of world football have cannibalized the France Football award: only Luka Modric, in 2018, and Benzema, in 2022, have picked up the crumbs.
Time will tell if this umpteenth individual reward is the last for the man who now plays in MLS at Inter Miami, in a much less competitive championship.
Still, Rosario’s child is still hungry: Messi (178 caps, 106 goals) plans to participate in the Copa America-2024. His swan song. Unless he pushes until the 2026 World Cup…
With AFP
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