10 football stars backing Lionel Messi for the Ballon d'Or award
The battle for the Ballon d’Or heats up this year after some stellar seasons from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez. Unlike FIFA’s BEST Player of the Year award, the Ballon d’Or is now only voted for by journalists, with France Football announcing it tonight.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the overwhelming favourite for the award, although Lionel Messi has his fair share of supporters withing the footballing fraternity.
Here are 10 football stars and managers backing Lionel Messi to win the 2016 Ballon d’Or award.
#1 Neymar Jr.
It’s hardly a surprise that Leo Messi’s teammate wants him to win, but Neymar’s words do carry some weight to them. The Brazilian outlined his reason for the Argentinian winning the award, saying “I don't know who will win, for me there is only one who's the best, that's Messi.”
Neymar did pay tribute to Ronaldo but still has the opinion that Leo Messi has been the best player this calendar year, despite the Portugal star winning trophies, saying “Ronaldo is a great player, he's world class and has been for many years and I respect him. But Messi is the one who deserves it, for me.”
Messi also has another teammate cheering for him, with Neymar not being the only one.
#2 Gerard Pique
Millions of words have been written about the eternal debate between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The Portugal star has had the more successful year in terms of major trophies, but Pique does not even want to consider it.
Ronaldo and Messi have fought a battle for the Ballon d’Or in the last few years, but Pique feels Messi should have had a clean sweep, saying “If the Ballon d'Or was given to the best player in the world, Leo would have won it every year since 2009. On another level.”