5 reasons why Lionel Messi deserves the 2021 Ballon d'Or
Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or a record six times. It is the biggest individual prize in football and only the very best in the business have been able to lay their hands on the trophy.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have dominated the Ballon d'Or scene for the past decade and more. Luka Modric was the only other player to have upset that trend by winning it in 2018.
The 2020-21 season was a testing one for Lionel Messi for several reasons. He wanted to leave Barcelona in the summer of 2020. But he was denied a way out as interested parties were priced out of a deal thanks to a clause in Messi's contract. His close friend and strike partner Luis Suarez was unceremoniously shown the exit door as well.
Messi took a while to hit his stride in the 2020-21 season, but there was almost no stopping him once he did. Now that he seems to have found his rhythm at Copa America 2021, it looks like Argentina are in with a chance to win the elusive trophy.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the five reasons why Lionel Messi deserves to win the Ballon d'Or this year.
#5 Lionel Messi won the most man-of-the-match awards in 2020-21 season
Man-of-the-match awards are a good measure of how consistently a player can affect games. Lionel Messi has been Barcelona's most important player for more than a decade now and it continues to be that way. It is not very surprising then that Joan Laporta is scampering around to get Messi's contract renewed.
The Argentine won a whopping 22 man-of-the-match awards in the 2020-21 season. The second player on the list is Harry Kane and he has won just 13. That goes to show how much of a difference Messi makes and how consistently he is able to do it as well.
#4 No clear-cut favourites in the Ballon d'Or race this time
The Ballon d'Or race has been blown wide open this time around. As opposed to recent years where we'd have had a clear-cut favourite to win the most prestigious individual prize in football, this year we don't have any.
Last year, Robert Lewandowski was tipped to win the Ballon d'Or on the back of an incredible season with Bayern Munich. He was the top scorer across all competitions in Europe and also won the continental treble. Unfortunately for him, the Ballon d'Or was canceled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Major trophies in Europe have been scattered this time and as such, no player has a telling advantage over the others in that regard. Messi's achievements in the 2020-21 season are on par with that of his competition.