The Argentina national team skipper on Monday won an unprecedented fifth FIFA Ballon d’Or award, given to the footballer of the year by world football’s governing body FIFA.
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Messi reclaimed the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the world player of the year on Monday from his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo who had walked off with the award for the previous two years.
Although he became the first ever player to win the award five times, Messi had said earlier that he would swap all those individual accolades for a World Cup success.
Lionel Messi extended his record haul of World Player of the Year awards with his fifth after winning the treble – La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League – with Barcelona in 2014-15.
“I’d just like to thank all the people who love me, who follow me in Barcelona, Argentina and around the world and I want to share this award with them”.
But it is not everyone’s cup of tea and some critics, such as Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, say it is not appropriate in a team sport. You know as well as I do that it’s certainly Messi who will win it. I think so.
He said: “I’ve always said that I can’t leave Barcelona”.
Neither Messi nor Ronaldo voted for each other in their respective top threes, with the former choosing a trio of Barca team-mates in Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta, and Ronaldo also selecting three club colleagues in Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale. Ronaldo ended last season trophyless with Real Madrid although he helped Portugal qualify forEuro 2016.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is adamant that he will not be moving to the Premier League as he hopes to finish his career at the Nou Camp. She earned the Golden Ball for best player in the tournament.
“We avoid answering this kind of question”, he told a press conference before the ceremony.
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In 2015 Messi scored 52 goals and had 26 assists in 61 games, according to ESPN.
