Lionel Messi deserve the Ballon D’Or? Barcelona captain Jordi Alba talks Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi.
Jordi Alba, a former teammate of Lionel Messi, believes Karim Benzema will take home the Ballon d’Or this year.
The attacker, who is currently in possession of football’s highest individual honor, had a trying first season with his new team, PSG. Messi was not nominated for the award for the first time since 2005 as a result of his lack of influence at the Ligue 1 champions.
The legendary Argentine attacker has a record seven Ballon d’Or victories, two more than Cristiano Ronaldo, the next most frequent winner.
The playmaker won six of those championships while playing for Barcelona, where he spent almost a decade playing alongside Alba. The illustrious left-back was asked by AS who he thought should receive the honor this year, and he said, “Balon D’Or? Although Benzema deserves it this year, I used to always say Messi.
As a result of his outstanding season for Real Madrid, Benzema is the clear favorite to win the trophy this year for the first time in his career. Last season, the French international scored 44 goals in 46 games, including 15 goals in 12 Champions League matches.
With the help of the Frenchman’s goals, Los Blancos won an unprecedented La Liga and Champions League double. In as many league games this season, Benzema has already scored three goals.
Organizers provide an explanation for Lionel Messi’s Ballon d’Or omission.
Following the shortlist’s publication last month, the inclusion of the renowned attacker generated a lot of discussion. Emmanuel Bojan, the deputy editor-in-chief of France Football, gave an explanation for the PSG forward’s exclusion.
Bojan stated, as reported by Eurosport:
“Lionel Messi automatically weighs very strongly when it comes to the final decision because of his 15 consecutive appearances since 2006, his seven Ballon d’Or victories, and his standing as the current title holder.”
The Argentinean participated in the discussions to include the 30 players, but he found the new Ballon d’Or criteria to be unfavorable: the elimination of the criterion for a player’s entire career, and the new periodicity, which is based on a football season rather than a calendar year and prevents the inclusion of the Copa America on July 11, 2021.”
Bojan continued:
And finally, it must be acknowledged that his first season in Paris was incredibly disappointing from a statistical and aesthetic standpoint.
