Why Messi Beat Lewandowski To Win The Ballon d’Or Award

The France Football on Monday 29th November 2021, announced the Argentine forward, Lionel Messi, as the winner of the 2021 Ballon d’Or Award.

Messi with 613 points, secured the award for a record of seventh time after beating Bayern Munich and Poland’s striker, Robert Lewandowski (580 points).

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Messi and Lewandowski’s stats for club and country since December 2020:

Lionel Messi.

• Games played: 63

• Goals: 44

• Assists: 18

• Copa America

• Copa del Rey

• Copa America Top Scorer and Best Player

Robert Lewandowski.

• Games played: 58

• Goals: 69

• Assists: 10

• Bundesliga

• German Super Cup

• European Golden Shoe

Two major reasons why Messi won the Ballon d’Or ahead of Lewandowski.
1. Lionel Messi without the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Coutinho, carried Barcelona on his back and ensured a top-four finish for Barca in the Spanish La Liga and won them the Spanish Copa del Rey last season. Whereas Bayern Munich has many playmakers like Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane, Kingsley Coman, who can do all the dirty jobs in Lewandowski’s absence.

2. Messi single-handedly led Argentina to their first major title in 28 years. The 34-year-old scored the most goals and provided the most assists for Argentina in the 2021 Copa America.

The rest of the top ten for the Ballon d’Or Award:
3. Jorginho (Chelsea) 460 points

4. Benzema (R. Madrid) 239 points

5. Kante (Chelsea) 186 points

6. Ronaldo (Man United) 178 points

7. M. Salah (Liverpool) 121 points

8. De Bruyne (Man City) 73 points

9. Mbappe (PSG) 58 points

10. Donnarumma (PSG) 36 points.