Lionel Messi Wins Ballon d’Or For Record Seventh Time
Ahead of Robert Lewandowski and five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
Lionel Messi has been crowned the best player in world football for a record seventh time during last night’s ceremony at Paris’ Theatre du Chatelet.
The Argentine — who transferred from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain earlier this year — helped his country win the Copa America and scored over 40 goals across 2021, to earn him his seventh accolade.
The award, which was postponed last year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, sees Messi go two wins ahead of Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, after also beating Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, Chelsea’s Jorginho and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema who came second, third and fourth respectively.
Out of the 30 players shortlisted for the award, the Premier League boasted 14 with five representing Chelsea and Manchester City, two from Manchester United and one from both Liverpool and Tottenham.
The Kopa Trophy for the best player aged under-21 was also announced last night and was awarded to Spain and Barcelona midfielder Pedri who fought off a host of English talent in the form of Jude Bellingham, Mason Greenwood and Bukayo Saka.
In related news, HYPEBEAST recently sat down with Pedri to discuss his record-breaking 2020/21 season.
