Seven-time winner Lionel Messi is yet to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or for the first time in 17 years.
The Argentine, who moved from Barcelona to PSG after last year summer after winning his seventh Ballon d'Or and marking his name in the hall of fame at the Camp Nou. Lionel Messi failed to make the shortlisting of France Football Ballon d'Or list for the first time in 17 years which is since 2005.
France Football, an organizer of football's most prestigious individual awards, announced the list of 30 players on Friday, with Messi missing the mark for the first time since 2005.
While longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo has succeeded, Messi's difficult time - by his high standards - at Paris Saint-Germain seems to coincide with the previously unthinkable. PSG team-mate Neymar is also absent. A lot of people including his fans and PSG teammates will take this as a dump list because of Messi but I boldly believe that Messi does not deserve a place in the list base on his performance for his new club which is PSG last year.
Messi scored less than 10 league goals for PSG last year and also failed to register more than 10 assists which many people including some sports pundits and football analysts were asking why PSG signed him from Fc Barcelona.
Premier League players dominate the list, awarding 15 of the 30 nominations. English trio Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, and Harry Kane will be there. Foden is one of six Manchester City players on the list, including new signing Erling Haaland, while Liverpool's quintet Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Nunes - as well as the recently deceased Sadio Mane - are also included. Son Heung-min joins partner Harry Kane and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema is the favorite to win first.
The complete shortlist in alphabetical order is below:
blogpay
Total Comments: 0