Argentina Ace Lionel Messi grabbed hold of his 8th FIFA Ballon D’or award last night at the Theatre Du Chatelet in Paris. The 36-year-old saw off competition from Man City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and Messi’s former team mate at PSG, Frenchman Kylian Mbappe.
Reports from Europe were anyways suggesting that Messi was guaranteed to win the individual price for the 8th time in his career. Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham handed the trophy to Messi who recently signed for his club earlier in July.
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The Talismanic forward helped Miami in winning their first ever major trophy in its very small history. With that Messi of course is now the first player to win these many Ballon D’ors but he is also the first player to win this award while playing in USA’s Major League Soccer.
That means people in the USA will now be able to witness a Ballon D’or winner play in their backyard just like Karim Benzema at Saudi Arabia.
Messi led Argentina towards the 2022 FIFA World cup glory at Qatar where he scored 7 goals and gave 3 assists in 7 appearances. He also won the World cup golden ball award for being adjudged as the player of the tournament for the 2nd time in his career and first since the 2014 FIFA World cup at Brazil.
Back then, his Argentinian side had lost to Germany in the Final by 1-0 but 8 years later, life came full circle for Messi who was given a royal treatment post winning the 2022 World cup.
“I couldn’t imagine having the career that I’ve had. Everything that I’ve achieved. The fortune I’ve had playing for the best team in the world, the best team in history. It’s nice to win these individual trophies.” – Lionel Messi said.
Overall in 2022/23 season, Lionel Messi has played 55 times, scored 32 goals and assisted 25 times for Paris Saint Germain and Inter Miami.
