Lionel Messi Ballon d’Or: How many votes the Top 10 got – INTERESTING!
Lionel Messi admitted winning the Copa America with Argentina might have been the determining factor in him claiming the men’s Ballon d’Or prize for the seventh time after a turbulent year.
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Now 34, Messi pipped much-fancied rivals like Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema to take the award in a glittering ceremony on Monday in Paris, the city he now calls home after leaving boyhood club Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in August.
Despite his tearful goodbye from Barcelona and his relatively underwhelming start to life in France, the jury of journalists from around the world rewarded him in particular for captaining Argentina to their first major international title since 1993.
Messi also won in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
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Messi has played just 11 times and scored four goals for PSG since joining the French club and there was a feeling that this year might see a different winner.
Poland striker Lewandowski would have been a shoe-in in 2020, when he scored 45 goals in 37 games for Bayern, only for the awards to be cancelled.
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He ended last season with a remarkable 41 Bundesliga goals but had to settle for second place in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, which is organised by France Football magazine and voted for by a panel of journalists from around the world.
Lewandowski instead was given a consolation prize for the year’s best goal-scorer and received glowing praise from Messi.
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“I wanted to say to Robert that it was an honour to go up against him. He deserved to win it last year,” Messi said.
Midfielder Jorginho, who won the Champions League with Chelsea and Euro 2020 with Italy, came third, followed by Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and another Chelsea player, N’Golo Kante.
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Five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo came sixth. He was absent from the ceremony.
Between them, Messi and Ronaldo have won 12 of the last 13 editions of the Ballon d’Or with the exception coming in 2018 when Luka Modric claimed the prize.
TOP 10 FINISHERS AND VOTES RECEIVED IN 2021 BALLON D’OR:
1 – Lionel Messi 
– 613
2 – Robert Lewandowski 
– 580
3 – Jorginho 
– 460
4 – Karim Benzema 
– 239
5 – N’Golo Kanté – 186
6 – Cristiano Ronaldo 
– 178
7 – Mohamed Salah 
– 121
8 – Kevin De Bruyne 
– 73
9 – Kylian Mbappe – 58
10 – Gianluigi Donnarumma – 36
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