Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina forward Lionel Messi has won the Men’s Ballon d’Or for the seventh time.
The 34-year-old striker defeated Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho to be crowned winner.
Messi attended the ceremony in Chatelet Theatre in Paris with his wife and children.
In 2021, the Argentine scored 41 goals and registered 14 assists.
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Messi won the Copa del Rey with his former club, FC Barcelona and he led Argentina to their first silverware since 1993, winning the Copa America, where he was also named Player of the Tournament and won the Golden Boot.
Bayern Munich and Poland striker, Lewandowski did pick up the consolation prize of the newly formed Striker of the Year award.
He has scored 73 goals in 60 games for Bayern Munich since the start of last season, and won FIFA’s and UEFA’s men’s player of the year awards in 2020.
The award for the Women’s Ballon d’Or went to Barcelona captain Alexia Putellas.
Further awards went to Gianluigi Donnarumma for the Yashin Trophy of best goalkeeper, to Barcelona midfielder Pedri as the starlet was handed the Kopa Trophy and another new award went to Chelsea for Club of the Year for their on-pitch achievements with both men’s and women’s teams.
Manchester United forward, Cristiano Ronaldo had earlier posted a social media message claiming France Football’s Pascal Ferre had spoken “lies” about the reasons why he was not at the awards ceremony and that his only ambition was to win more Ballon d’Ors than Messi.
After claiming his award at the end of the ceremony, Messi remarked that Lewandowski had “deserved” the award in 2020 and hoped that France Football awarded it to him retrospectively, after last year’s awards were cancelled due to the pandemic.
The Ballon d’Or award ceremony is one of the most anticipated events in the football world. The award, first given out in 1956, is presented by the French weekly magazine, France Football, to the best footballer of the year.