Messi took home the 2019 Ballon d’Or by defeating Virgil van Dijk and long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
On December 2 Lionel Messi (R) surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo's (L) tally of 5 Ballon d'Or wins to become the most successful player since the inception of the award. (Photo: AFP)
Spanish national team centre back and Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos has joked that Agentina talisman Lionel Messi and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo should have their own separate Ballon d’Or competition, with a secondary award handed out to the best of rest of the world’s players.
“They could make a Ballon d’Or only for Cristiano and Messi,” Ramos made the suggestion in an interview with American Spanish-language channel TUDN. “Then there could be another for the rest. In the end it’d be better for football.”
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Ramos’ joke reflects the dominance of Messi and Ronaldo and the fact that the race for the Ballon d’Or is mainly battled between the two certifies it.
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Talking about the 2019 Ballon d’Or, Messi took home the coveted French award by defeating Virgil van Dijk and long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
With this award, Messi took his Ballon d’Or tally to six and has become the most successful player since the inception of the award, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, who has five such awards to his name.
It is after four years that Messi has been recognised as the finest player on the planet. During this span, Ronaldo won the award in 2016 and 2017 taking his total tally to five.
Notably, Ronaldo finished third in the 2019 vote. It was for the first time since 2011 that the forward failed to make a cut in the final two of Ballon d’Or.
Messi received the award in Paris while Ronaldo was absent from the event for the second year in a row after both Ronaldo and Messi not present in the last year’s event in which Luca Modric bagged the Golden Ball.
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