unfair judgment – Messi didn’t deserve the 6th ballon d’Or
It is a big bang and a huge slap on most football followers and fans that Lionel Messi emerged as the 2019 Ballon d’Or winner despite his non-impressive form in all competitions in the 2018/2019 season. I know that some people will disagree with me, but let the truth be told. It’s really an unfair decision.
When Lionel Messi did well, we all praised him and showered him some accolades. Now that he didn’t worth it, we still need to call a spade a spade. We don’t need to hide behind one finger and be bias. The truth is, Lionel Messi didn’t have a good season. I will prove my point.
Let's start from the 2018 world cup
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Messi flopped in this tournament. Argentina barely qualified with 4 points and -2 goal difference over Nigeria with 3 points and -1 goal difference. Messi was knocked out of the world cup in the round of 16 by France. He has only one goal in the tournament scored against Nigeria in the 2-1 victory that qualified them for the knockout stage.
UEFA Champions league
Barcelona finished on the table. Defeated Lyon and Manchester United to get to the quarter-finals, and got trashed by Liverpool. Messi dropped out of the champions league though he was the highest goal scorer with 12 goals.
Talking about the Laliga, and Supercopa de Espana, he won the two and was the highest goal scorer in Laliga. So if I will have to judge the criteria he used to emerge as the winner, it was the laliga and the Supercopa de Espana he collected, plus being the highest goal scorer he used in emerging as the winner. Should you have any other achievements, please comment below.
Now let’s talk about some Liverpool players
- Van Dijk
- Sadio Mane
- Mohammed Sallah
Are these players worth the Ballon d’Or?
Looking at their performances from last season, they really performed excellently well.
Mohammed Sallah and Sadio Mane both scored 22 goals last season, and they are named as the highest goal scorer in the English premier league. Van Dijk was the best defender in the premier league with an outstanding record. No player was able to dribble him successfully for a whole season. He has the most won duel, with the highest passes (more than 80% accuracy). He spent the highest time of the pitch.
Where I think a Liverpool player should displace Lionel Messi
The Champions League was the main thing that can be used to greatly compare the two sides (Liverpool and Barcelona). Liverpool won the champions league beating Tottenham 2-0 in the final. But let’s see something. Liverpool crashed ou Barcelona in the quarter-final. Mohammed Sallah, Sadio Mane, and Van Dijk sent out Lionel Messi and won the Champions League. Oh! That is not enough to judge right?
Of course, it’s not, but that is one of the strong points needed.
Liverpool finished second in the premier league behind Manchester City that leads with one point. So the premiership slipped away with just a pinch of salt.
This season, they in the first position already leading the runner up with 8 points from 14 games.
They are I an unbeaten run. Barcelona is topping the Laliga table with plus 1 goal difference over Real Madrid. They’ve lost 3 times in the Laliga this season.
Liverpool is in the semi-final of the FIFA club world cup, has won the UEFA super cup this year in August, and still intact in all English competitions. Barcelona is also intact in all Spanish competition, and they are both waxing stronger, but Liverpool seems to be in form more. Liverpool Coach Jurgen Klopp was named the best coach of the year.
Sadio Mane and Mohammed Sallah are not in the top three, which is not good enough. Voting Van Dijk at the top wasn’t a bad thing because of his wonderful performance. However, the two Africans that performed exceptionally well were voted out of the top three.
Is Ballon d’Or voting bias?
I can’t confidently say it is biased, but a few years ago when Wesley Sniedjer collected treble, he was not named in the top three, but he came first in the journalist vote.
- Sneijder (293 points)
- Iniesta (226 points)
- Xavi (229 points)
- Messi (175 points)
I would say that the Ballon d’Or sometimes is not perfect. However, we have no say and there is nothing we can do than to write a blog to convey our dissatisfaction.
If you have the chance to speak with Lionel Messi, ask him about this year’s Ballon d’Or, you will hear the truth. He was disappointed that Sadio Mane was not in the top three.
I rest my case. Thanks for reading.
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Constructive criticism is allowed. We are all entitled to our opinion.