Lionel Messi, widely considered to be the greatest soccer player of his generation — and possibly in the history of the sport — has won the Ballon d’Or for the sixth time in his career. Messi bested Sadio Mane (Senegal) and Virgil Van Dijk (Netherlands) of Liverpool and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) of Juventus for the coveted award.
Mane finished in fourth, Ronaldo finished in third, and Van Dijk finished runner-up.The award, which is presented annually by France Football, is given to the best player in world football. The 2019 win marks the sixth time that the legendary Argentina and Barcelona forward has won the award. In the years between his Ballon d’Or victories, Cristiano Ronaldo (then of Real Madrid) won the award twice, while Real Madrid’s Luka Modric controversially won the award last year.
Messi, who has led Barcelona to La Liga titles in eight of the last ten seasons, last won the award back in 2015. However, the famed Argentinian forward crashed out of the world’s most prestigious competition, the Champions League, in infamous fashion, as he and Barcelona got steamrolled by Liverpool in the second league of the semi-final by a score of 4-0.
Heading into the final month of 2019, Messi once again has his Barca squad in a prime position to challenge for all of the season’s major trophies, as the Catalans currently sit atop La Liga while also topping their Champions League group to qualify for the knockout stages with a game left to spare.
Eric Italiano is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t quite sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who’s willing to listen that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Follow him on Twitter @eric_ital for movie and soccer takes or contact him eric@brobible.com
