At the twilight of a prodigious career, Lionel Messi took the spotlight for the eighth time during the Ballon d’Or ceremony, Monday at the Châtelet theater in Paris, where the Spaniard Aitana Bonmati made her entry into the football pantheon .
And in the end, it’s Messi who wins: crowned world champion for the first time at the end of 2022 in Qatar, author of seven goals during the tournament, including a double in the final, the 36-year-old Argentinian was ahead of podium the Norwegian Erling Haaland and the Frenchman Kylian Mbappé.
After 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019 with Barça and 2021 already in the colors of PSG, Messi adds one more line to a breathtaking track record that he completed in 2021 and 2022 with a first Copa America and therefore the global 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.
Vice-world champion with France, Mbappé finished top scorer in the competition (8), 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 Ballon d’Ors than Cristiano Ronaldo (5).
The outcome of the final and therefore of this Ballon d’Or could have been different without Emiliano Martinez, author of a decisive save against Frenchman Randal Kolo Muani and elected best goalkeeper of the season on Monday (Yachine Trophy). Author of a clownish celebration after the world title, he was booed by part of the theater audience.
Bellingham, best young
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 last year collected 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 2024 Copa America. His swan song. Unless he pushes until the 2026 World Cup…
If football gradually sees the end of the Messi-Ronaldo era, the succession is assured with Haaland and Mbappé, the two top scorers of the season with 56 and 54 goals respectively for club and selection.
Paying tribute to the glories of the past Pelé, Luis Suarez and Bobby Charlton, who passed away in recent months, the ceremony also profiled the future through the Englishman Jude Bellingham, 20 years old, elected best young person of the year (Kopa Trophy) two days after his double with Real Madrid, his new club, during the Clasico in Barcelona (2-1).
Bonmati, the obvious
Among the women, the Spaniard Aitana Bonmati was crowned for the first time, at the age of 25, succeeding the double winner and teammate in the selection and at Barça Alexia Putellas.
Further proof of the current domination of Spain, victorious in the 2023 World Cup, and the Catalan club, which won the 2023 and 2021 Champions League.
In these two competitions, the midfielder was voted best player, thanks in particular to five goals in the Champions League and three at the World Cup.
Dubbed by Pep Guardiola who nicknamed her “the Iniesta of women’s football”, the native of Vilanova i la Geltru, near Barcelona, has also won the last four Spanish championships. The one who grew up admiring the great Barça and the great Spain of the turn of the 2010s has in recent years made the women’s section of her club a great one in Europe. And his dream came true.
Just as combative off the field, Bonmati has been involved in the past in helping refugees. Voted UEFA player of the year in August, she dedicated her trophy to her teammate Jenni Hermoso, who was kissed by surprise after the world title by the former president of the Spanish federation Luis Rubiales.
Rubiales was suspended for three years from all football-related activities by FIFA on Monday and announced he would appeal the decision.