Lionel Messi has received his sixth Ballon D’Or in the ceremony in Paris, beating Virgil Van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo, the other two finalists. The Argentinian player makes history being the only player in the world with sixth awards. This year, Messi won it only touching silverware once, thanks to La Liga title.
The terrible year played by Real Madrid in 2019 eliminated every possibility to be protagonist in the ceremony as Los Blancos were in the past three years. This time we only saw Karim Benzema shortlisted in the 26th position, clearly the best Real Madrid player during the last months. Besides, Eden Hazard lead Chelsea to the Europa League title and thanks to that he got the 13th position.
Liverpool were the European champions, but their players couldn’t win the award. Van Dijk was the closest one, with Saido Mané in the third position, Mohamed Salah fifth, Alisson was sixth, and Alexander Arnold or Wijnaldum were also in the first 30 players. In addition, Alisson Becker also got the Yashine Trophy as the best goalkeeper of the year.
Liverpool can feel a bit look down because they couldn’t get this trophy. On the contrary, Real Madrid players won the last three years, when Los Blancos conquered the Champions League. Cristiano Ronaldo brought the trophy home in 2016 and 2017, whereas Luka Modric was the winner last year. Actually, Modric travelled to Paris to hand the award to Leo Messi.
On the contrary, Cristiano Ronaldo was the great absence of the evening. The Portuguese player is not living his best moment in his career, being substituted by Maurizio Sarri and with Juventus struggling in Serie A. Besides, the Portuguese star won’t be very happy seeing Messi overtaking him in the list of winner of Ballon D’Or. Hopefully, next year we can see more Real Madrid players in this important ceremony.
