Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award yet again for the world’s best player for the fifth time.
The 28-year-old Argentine had 41.33% of the vote, with Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo (27.76%) second and Barca’s Neymar (7.86%) third.
United States midfielder Carli Lloyd, who scored a hat-trick in the Women’s World Cup final, won the women’s award.
Messi’s position as the World’s best player is consentient amongst football fans, despite some arguing Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo is better placed, but the records of little Argentinian maestro makes it hard to establish that argument.
Messi won a the treble – La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League – with Barcelona in 2014-15.
He has scored a staggering 52 goals with 26 assists in 61 games in 2015, which equates to a goal every 101 minutes and an assist every 202 minutes.
His best minutes-per-goal rate is 80 of anyone scoring a minimum of 10 goals across Europe’s top five leagues during 2015
He was directly involved in 49 goals in La Liga – 34 scored and 15 assists – which was the joint-most with Ronaldo in 2015 across the top five European leagues.
He Scored in all six club tournaments in 2015, as Barcelona won five of them.
8
Comparisons between Messi and Ronaldo is at an all time high and for the past eight years it has been a private duel between the two for the Ballon d’Or trophy, they shared the award in that period.
The Portugal captain Ronaldo, 30, scored 57 goals in as many games in 2015 – including a record 16 in the Champions League – but that was not enough to win him Ballon d’Or number four.
In an interview with Spanish paper El Pais back in November, Ronaldo revealed he doesn’t believe trophies have any impact in deciding who’s the best player in the world, proclaiming he’s better than the Barcelona superstar a claim he repeated in a BBC interview in this month ahead of the release of his film, where the 30 year-old Portuguese said:
“In my mind, I’m always the best. I don’t care what people think, what they say. In my mind, not just this year but always, I’m always the best.”
When asked about comparisons with him Messi, he said:
“It’s opinions, I respect the opinions. Maybe in your opinion Messi is better than me, but in my mind I am better than him. So it’s simple.”
“Perhaps for you, Messi is the best; in my head, I am the best – and everyone should think that about ourselves. That is why I have been able to achieve so much in my career,” he added .
it’s well-founded that ego lays a large part in Ronaldo’s appeal, and he would undoubtedly prefer if the football jury was unanimous in agreeing he’s the best there’s ever been—but that’s far from being the case, Messi has won that battle and it’s evident in the result of the award tonight.
“It’s a very special moment for me to be back here on this stage, winning again another Ballon d’Or after seeing Cristiano win it,” Messi said.
“It’s incredible that it’s my fifth. Much more than anything I would have dreamed of as a kid.”
Messi’s Barcelona teammate Neymar, 23, came in third place, the first for someone from his country since to finish in the top three since Kaka won the 2007 award.
He scored 45 goals in 62 games and is joint top scorer in this season’s La Liga with 15, level with team-mate Luis Suarez.
