Can we please have a moment of silence in memory of this award.
RIP Ballon D'or.
RIP Ballon D'or.
Ballon d'Or 2021 | Lewandowski robbed again
- Thread starter Samid
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) look forward to a new life under Ruben Amorim. What system will we be playing? What players will impress? and how will it all go? We also say goodbye to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and review United's 3-0 win at home against Leicester City.
Or you can Google it for yourself. Or you can refer the earlier posts, is it too much too ?
Okay, in what dimension did Messi score more goals than Lewandowski this year? Im waiting.
How the feck did Messi, now well past his best, win this year? And Ronaldo is nowhere near the 6th best player in the world now, Great players but 6th best in the world? Not a chance.
He had the most completed dribbles.
He has scored more goals this year than the winner of Ballon D’or, and he has also won 2 trophies and 2 top scorer awards, and broke a few all time records too (most Euro goals, most international goals, most career goals etc). Maybe he should finished abit higher.
I think Messi will finish 3rd in voting …. The year AFTER he retires. Does anyone really care who wins the Copa? They are acting like he finally got over the hump and redeemed himself for all those horrid WC’s. The Copa doesn’t carry the gravity of Euros. He and Barca at least seemed mediocre at very best last year. I don’t know WHO else should have won it, but it shouldn’t have been Messi.
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This season:
Messi: 4 goals 3 assists in 865 minutes all comps PSG including 3 assists against 10 men against 20th placed St. Etienne.
Lewandowski: 25 goals 2assists for Bayern
Last season:
Messi: 38 goals 14 assists in 4192 minutes for Barca, finishing 3rd in LaLiga and exiting round of 16 in the CL.
Lewa: 48 goals 13 assists in 3301 minutes for Bayern, winning the Bundesliga, beating a 50 year old goalscoring record and exiting quarter finals (injured) in CL.
Messi wins…..sure!
Not biased at all!
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Don’t let the whole Messi winning Ballon d'Or 2021 distract you from the fact that every French footballer/manager/pundit/ex player and Perez and co was gassing up Benzema for months to win the Balon d'Or, just to finish below Jorginho 
This just proves that this reward is worth nothing. Zipp. zero. No point in giving this award away again. Modric, Owen, Sammer, Weah, Nedved and Cannavaro won it, but Lewandowski was not found worthy. Rather give it to the «only the dictator/Sheik of Qatar can afford me in my decline», Messi for the 7th time. A joke of a reward.
Messi's reputation supersedes any discussion on how well the players actually played in their given year.
He'll continue winning, or at least be in the top 3 until he retires.
He'll continue winning, or at least be in the top 3 until he retires.
Despite being well aware of the fact that messi has better stats/achievements for the relevant period, people still crying for lewa! Funny to see. Lewa is extremely unlucky - that's a fact. But he has never been better than messi, yet.
Messi never deserved to win in 2010, should have gone to Sneijder. He did not deserve in 2019, van Dijk did, he did not deserve today, Lewa did. Absolute shame.
Also Ronaldo did not deserve in 2013, Ribbery should have won that year.
Also Ronaldo did not deserve in 2013, Ribbery should have won that year.
Messi has ridiculous stats even in his decline, this is the first year his stats are underwhelming...when he is 34 yo.
The thing is this will be most likely his last Balloon D'or, he isn't winning one more while playing in Ligue 1...unless he wins CL with PSG or World Cup with Argentina.
Even if he scores tons of goals in Ligue 1, nobody will give a shit about it, unless he wins CL with PSG.
I believe Cristiano isn't winning another one, he certainly won't win PL or CL with this rubbish version of United, and Portugal isn't winning World Cup either...so that's it for him.
Very good case for Lewa winning it but don’t let recency bias get in the way. Messi carried his country to a tournament and won countless MOTM awards for an awful Barca team, all while still getting incredibly good G/A stats.
He was part of that Barca team…..He‘s been nothing but incredibly underwhelming since he joined PSG almost half a season ago…..
27 MOTM awards in 49 games. Top scorer in La Liga. Top scorer and player of the tournament in the Cops. 54 goal contributions in 49 games.
Again, you’ve either got short term memory or Messi’s brilliance over the past decade has blunted you to how good he still is.
Only thing Lewandowski beats him on his goals. He’s a #9. And in a far better team than Barca.
MOTMs? Really? So Lewandowski’s 66 goal contributions in 51 games while winning the League and beating Der Bombers 50 years old bundesliga record on the way not as good? #neverbeendonebefore
Messi has been so much better than this in the past and he wasn’t the best player in 2021. He’s been a shadow of his former self for PSG….
Hahahahaha
Yeah I don't understand how people are just okay with letting the spring and summer dictate an award that's meant for the ENTIRE YEAR.
when the important trophies are won in spring summer that’s why. Voting ends in October
It's been that way for ages. Your team having a few good rounds at the fag end of the CL wins it too and nobody complains.
I think Messi deserved the controversial Ballon of 2019 (monstrous form-close to 2014/15-despite the 4-0 fiasco at Anfield), but yes, Lewandowski should have won this.
Confirmed that winning a title with your NT gives you a dramatically huge boost to win the Ballon d'Or.
Confirmed that winning a title with your NT gives you a dramatically huge boost to win the Ballon d'Or.
By the way who votes for this - is it other players only or just a fan vote?
I don't really follow the Balon"Dor since Nedved.
I don't really follow the Balon"Dor since Nedved.
It’s journalists from all over the world
I don't know if it's Messi/Ronaldo tribalism, general cluelessness or just old habits that are hard to break. Probably a combination of all three. In any case, it does seem like both Messi and Ronaldo get a significant amount of votes just based on the fact that they are who they are.
I remember Casillas being guaranteed the GK spot in the team of the year even in years where he barely even played. His name alone was enough to push him to the top. This feels like much the same thing, and the only thing that's surprising is that Modric managed to break the Messi/Ronaldo stranglehold in 2018. If Lewandowski can have the year he had and still miss out it'll take a small miracle for anyone but the big two to win as long as they are still playing.
I remember Casillas being guaranteed the GK spot in the team of the year even in years where he barely even played. His name alone was enough to push him to the top. This feels like much the same thing, and the only thing that's surprising is that Modric managed to break the Messi/Ronaldo stranglehold in 2018. If Lewandowski can have the year he had and still miss out it'll take a small miracle for anyone but the big two to win as long as they are still playing.
Messi and Ronaldo were both topscorers in their leagues.
They sure put a ton of importance on the worst Copa America in living memory.
euro 2016 was worse
Both were equally crap though.
Euro 2016 has to be worst Euro in terms of Football quality i remember in the last 30 years.
Seems like adding 8 more teams wasn't a good idea (yeah i know UEFA only cares about money, so they don't give a crap about the tournament being poor in quality as long as they make bank from playing more matches).
I do think there are some technical advantages there with his stats (or even performance). We all know 1st half of season doesn’t matter much in these awards, it’s where Messi has been underwhelming mostly over these periods (late 2020 and late 2021 as of current).
In comparison, Lewandoski has been consistently excellent throughout, from the beginning to the end of year. Hence some might think he is being robbed. Of course the COVID situations doesn’t help.
However, Messi has been in excellent form from early year till summer tournament, it’s where Ballon D’or count most for the voting I think. Hence, fortunately his “underwhelming periods” doesn’t count much against him.
Is it fair to Lewandowski? Perhaps not. There is nothing else he could do when the narrative hasn’t been on his side. But it is the way it is. With Messi finally winning an international trophy for his country, most journalist would think, it has to be him winning it, and he has at least half year of top performance to back it up, so why not?
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Let me get this straight.... you're saying the main reason the team concedes is because of an attacking player? What sort of mental gymnastics is this?
I'm not gonna enter an "if" discussion. It can be said of anyone. If ronaldo had a better team he'd probably win. If MBAPPE wasn't shit in the euros benzema would probably win. If barca had a better supporting cast....etc etc.... we're talking facts and the fact is lewa should hands down have won it in 2020. Him getting injured and the fact that his main competitor blitzed an international tournament massively hurt his chances.
It will never make sense for me to have a yearly award voted so early into the season. The NBA has it right, everything happens after the regular season for the MVP.
Football has these weird traditions that make no sense whatsover. Make it a yearly award and have the votes in January of the following year. So fecking simple
Football has these weird traditions that make no sense whatsover. Make it a yearly award and have the votes in January of the following year. So fecking simple
good points!
You literally made that up.
Messi barely deserved top 3 this year.
He won because his name is Messi.
Ballon d'Or is awarded based on three votes per country: NT manager, NT captain and one reputable local journo nominated by the FA.
They vote for three players. First gets three votes, second gets two and third gets one.
Leaving aside all we've learned watching Eurovision, it's a no-brainer that -regardless of statso comparisons- Messi will feature on every single top 3 while half the world and their mother will completely ignore Lewandowski.
Globally nobody watches the Bundesliga anywhere, not even goal highlights, while winning the Copa América gets a lot more air time than anything Poland ever do. Even if a lot may think "this isn't the best Messi vintage", these people will wind up splitting votes across 4-5 players much like they used to split across Beckham, Keane, Yorke, Stam, Giggs and Schmeichel. Bayern didn't even win the CL this year either, so why wouldn't they vote Chelsea or City players instead? Why not Salah, Kane, Haaland, Benzema or Neymar himself after having a great Copa?
Of course Messi won it, it would take an outrageous major-trophy packed season from anyone to beat the ease with which he picks up points in every single ballot, let alone when he finally won an international tournament.
They have no credibility. He did not have a good year. He is struggling.
The level at the Copa was shocking. He completely bottled the final as well.
The level at the Copa was shocking. He completely bottled the final as well.
Nice to see so many people crying together.
It feels sweet.
It feels sweet.