With the long history of football, some of the greatest players like George Best, Zinedine Zidane, and many others bagged the sport’s most prestigious individual prize, Ballon d’Or only once in their career, Lionel Messi has done it seven times.

After halting the Ballon d’Or last year due to the disturbed schedule and pandemic, France Football named the Argentine striker as 2021 Ballon d’Or winner effectively making him retain his trophy from 2019.

Messi finished the ranking with 613 points in the voting system, only 33 more than Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski. Beating the much-popularized stars like Lewandoski and Karin Benzema, he took the award in a glittering ceremony in Paris.

“Today I’m here in Paris. I am very happy, really very happy, I really want to continue to fight and reach new objectives. I don’t know how many more years but I am really enjoying myself. I thank my teammates at Barça, Paris & Argentina,” Messi said while receiving the award.

The Argentine striker Lionel Messi stated that winning the Copa Americas might have been the determining factor for being crowned as the Ballon d’Or winner.

“What I achieved with Argentina was a dream come true. I think I won this trophy thanks to what we did at the Copa America, so I dedicate it to my teammates.”

Messi arrived at the ceremony wearing a glimmering black suit matched up by his three sons. This increases his tally of Ballon d’Or to seven times while his rival Cristiano Ronaldo is stand on five times.

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