The most prestigious individual prize in world football has its stroke of controversy yet again as speculations about the winner of 2021 Ballon d’Or surface. Lionel Messi, six-time winner of the prestigious honour has been mooted to win his seventh Ballon d’Or. However, the French Football Federation (FFF) has claimed that no winner has been determined yet.
After the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, FFF decided to abandon the winner of 2020 Ballon d’Or. Big names like Robert Lewandowski, Mohammed Salah were considered hot favourites to win the prize. This year though, FFF has decided to award the prize once again.
The star forward ended Argentina’s 28-year drought to win Copa America. The 34-year-old was instrumental in his country’s success and played a pivotal role. His club form though has been far from impressive; a dismal league campaign coupled with humiliating Champions League (CL) exit at Barcelona has seen his stock decrease drastically for the Ballon d’Or prize. He did win the Copa Del Rey beating Atheltic Bilbao in the final in his time at Camp Nou.
If trophies are the measure of success then Chelsea midfielder Jorginho stands at pole position. The former Napoli man won the CL with Chelsea and Euro with Italy. He further added to his list of trophies by winning UEFA Super Cup beating Villareal. With Club World Cup in December, the Italian footballer can add another feather to his cap.
Lewandowski, on the other hand ,was slightly unfortunate not to have added the Holy Grail to his trophy cabinet as the Ballon d’Or was abandoned last year. The Bayern Munich striker has been a consistent performer in recent years and is on the brink to becoming just the second player after German great Gerd Muller to score 300 goals in the Bundesliga. Currently, the Poland striker is on 290 Bundesliga goals.
