On August 12, France Football announced the contenders for the Ballon d’Or awards. The winners will be decided out of the players on the list. The same will be decided on October 17, a month before the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Talking about the awards, it determines the best European footballer of the previous year. Notably, for the first time since 2005, Argentina’s Lionel Messi has been omitted from the list.
Of the 30 players named for the award, the legendary has missed out as he had a poor season with his new team, Paris Saint-Germain. Apparently, due to financial constraints in the Barcelona club, the 35-year-old left his long-time team and joined the PSG. Recently, Cristophe Galtier, the new head coach of the PSG backed the Argentinian by saying that the latter has played so many games and won many trophies and is a great professional.
“When you have such a record and you have played so many games, won so many trophies and been so decisive in your career, it’s because you are a great professional,” he said in the pre-match press conference.
Meanwhile, Messi’s rival Cristiano Ronaldo has managed to make it to the award list. After all, he was the top goals scorer for Manchester United, who had a poor season last year. Players such as Karim Benzema and Thibaut Courtois are favourites to win the trophy following their remarkable season in which they won LaLiga, the UEFA Champions League, and the UEFA Super Cup. It will be interesting to see whether Ronaldo wins the trophy or not.
Shortlisted players to win the Ballon d’Or
Thibaut Courtois, Rafael Leao, Christopher Nkunku, Mohamed Salah, Joshua Kimmich, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Vinicius Junior, Bernardo Silva, Luis Diaz, Robert Lewandowski, Riyad Mahrez, Casemiro, Heung-Min Son, Fabinho, Karim Benzema, Mike Maignan, Harry Kane, Darwin Nunez, Phil Foden, Sadio Mane, Sebastien Haller, Luka Modric, Antonio Rudiger, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne, Dusan Vlahovic, Virgil van Dijk, Joao Cancelo, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
This is how Twitter reacted
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2022 ?It's the first time since 2005 that Lionel Messi wasn't included on the Ballon d'Or 30-man shortlist ???? pic.twitter.com/ktruQdvN2l
— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 12, 2022
Ballon d’Or rankings:
Cristiano Ronaldo in his first year at Juventus: 3rd Place.
Lionel Messi in his first year at PSG superteam: Not even top 30
Never a debate. pic.twitter.com/QoKkIztXJT
— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) August 12, 2022
Lionel Messi & the Ballon d’Or:
Most wins in history:
7Most points in history:
12160Biggest winning margin in history:
1101 (2011)Biggest winning majority in history:
98.54% (2009)Only player to WIN in three different decades:
2000s, 2010s, 2020sWe are good ?? ? pic.twitter.com/xSDK7NvjEO
— D? (@Fkk893) August 12, 2022
Lionel Messi wasn't the only major snub, these players also missed out on a nomination:
– Neymar
– Rodri
– Thiago
– Thomas Muller
– Mason Mount— SPORTbible (@sportbible) August 12, 2022
This tool did close to zero impact. Stop deceiving yourself.
Real voters ain't on social media, most of them don't even know how to operate a smartphone. Your number here isn't significant enough.— Yusuf Ba'are ?? (@marsiseek) August 13, 2022
"Ronaldo at 37 still nominated and Messi isn't "
If Lionel Messi retired at 27 he would have the same Ballon D'Ors than Ronaldo have at 37.
Never compare them again pic.twitter.com/t2YU24GfLG
— SK10 ? (@SK10Football) August 13, 2022
Lionel Messi has won more Ballon D'Ors than all of the thirty nominations of 2022 combined. pic.twitter.com/80rkXu8vxT
— FootyEmporium (@EmporiumFooty) August 13, 2022
Lionel Messi was trending before I slept,I woke to see it still trending, depression bad ni??,So dis man rent house for people head since ??
— SUCCESSFUL SON (@BIGSMOKE0999) August 13, 2022
Is Lionel Messi finished ?
No 0%
Yes ? 100%
7.1B votes • final results
— kvng Rafman?? (@CoachRafman) August 13, 2022
After dominating so many years players age and slowly move down the ranks. This is common sense. Crazy thing is, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will be back with better ranks in the Ballon d'or nominations this season.
— Nick¹??? (@Goretzka18SZN) August 13, 2022
Warra unfinished Lionel Messi
— A$AP Tony (@asaptoney) August 13, 2022
