France Football made an unusual decision to hold one of football's most prestigious events, the Ballon d'Or award show, on a Monday night after canceling the previous edition due to COVID. Although the red carpet was still a hit — as was Chelsea legend Didier Drogba's hosting of the event — it lacks the glitz that other weekend-long award shows in other entertainment formats have.
But enough about poor management decisions! It is now time to discuss the winners, of which there were many.
This year's Ballon d'Or included a couple of "surprise" awards to the public, who were caught off guard by their presence despite the fact that they make a lot of sense in the grand scheme of things. One of these was the Club of the Year award, the first recipient of which was none other than none other than none other than none other than none other than none other than none other than none other than ourselves!
It's difficult to argue against awarding Chelsea the Ballon d'Or for their achievements last season, both at the men's and women's levels. The former won their second Champions League title against all odds, defeating clear favorites Manchester City on a spectacular night in Porto. Whereas the former was a domestic powerhouse, easily winning the Women's Super League and the League Cup while reaching the Women's Champions League final for the first time in history.
Striker of the Year was the second surprise award. In the same year that we lost football legend Gerd Müller, fellow Bayern Munich legend Robert Lewandowski broke the Bundesliga's unbeaten 40-goal record, which had stood for nearly 50 years. The award was well deserved by the Polish international.
The Koka Trophy, presented by France Football to the best player under 21 in the world, was awarded to Pedri, a young Barcelona midfielder.
From then on, all eyes were on the night's most prestigious awards. The Yashin Trophy, named after Soviet Union goalkeeping revolutionary Lev Yashin, had our Édouard Mendy in contention after his heroics in helping us win the Champions League last season.
That is when wrongdoing would begin. Although Gianluigi Donnarumma is a fantastic goalkeeper who was vital to both AC Milan and European champions Italy last season, Mendy was one of the missing pieces in a puzzle that resulted in the Blues' ultimate European glory.
Some things, however, will never change.
Lionel Messi, formerly of Barcelona and now of Paris Saint-Germain, has won his seventh Ballon d'Or. At the very least, the point differential between first and second place, Lewandowski, was only 33 points. Jorginho, on the other hand, trailed Lewa by 120 points, with a total of 460.
In terms of individual accolades, it was not our night. But football is a team sport, and I wouldn't mind seeing Chelsea win Club of the Year for the next 50 years in exchange for another 50 years of Messi-Ronaldo Ballons d'Or exchanges.
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