Zlatan Ibrahimovic has questioned Lionel Messi's Ballon d'Or win in Paris on Sunday. The former Barcelona forward feels that Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski should have won the award instead.
Talking about the worthy winner of the 2021 Ballon d'Or, Zlatan said:
"Leo (Messi) lives for football. But Lewandowski deserved the Ballon d’Or this year."
Ibrahimovic's opinion has been echoed by several fans and critics alike. They feel Lewandowski was snubbed because of Messi's ties to Paris and his overall popularity in the game.
Robert Lewandowski scored 48 goals and made 9 assists in 40 games for Bayern Munich last season. He won the Bundesliga and broke the 40-year-old German league scoring record set by Gerd Muller.
Messi's victory was largely propelled by his Copa America win. The Paris Saint-Germain forward has now won seven Ballon d'Ors, two more than his fierce rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
Asked to compare the two generational forwards, Zlatan said:
"They are both very strong. I also say Messi because we played together."
Mauricio Pochettino praises Messi for his Ballon d'Or victory
PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino has backed Messi's victory at the Ballon d'Or ceremony. The Argentine tactician said:
"Firstly, I want to publicly congratulate Leo and his family,’ Pochettino told reporters. "Winning the Ballon d’Or for a seventh time is an extraordinary achievement."
The PSG manager backed Messi to go on and win his eighth Ballon d'Or as well. Pochettino added:
"I hope he takes advantage of it and that it’s the first day to work on getting the eighth. To have players with six and seven Ballon d’Or awards is something extraordinary and we are delighted to have him here every day. We hope at the end of the year to also have collective trophies beyond the individual trophies."
Asked to comment on the debate over reports of Lewandowski being a better candidate for the award than Lionel Messi, Pochettino said:
"Messi completely deserved it and there is no debate. Of course, in other countries there may be criticism, but he completely deserved it."
The Ballon d'Or award is given by France Football. 180 journalists vote on the final list of players to decide the eventual winner of the award.
Robert Lewandowski won the best striker of the year award in Paris on Sunday, while Gianluigi Donnarumma won the best goalkeeper award.
mzeereal
370
Even Zlatan who always support Messi claim it is a robbery
25489464(deleted)
289
Hello everyone if you think there's a robbery kindly report it to the police not to all football.
Anselmomigue
226
Ballon has lost value by robbing it to Lewandowisk in two consecutive seasons! Messi is fake! Goat 🐐 with most corruption in football abt the Dor! Rob rob rob!!
mubblmprty
117
why is it that so many people can not even differentiate 2020 from 2021 why for goodness sake? Are you now telling me they should handover the Balon'dor to LEWA simply for the cancellation of the award Last year due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Common let talk sense this award is basically on personal performance including work create on the pitch including man of the match, So tell me what has LEWY achieve than LIONEL in year 2021 apart from goal, he deserves the best Striker/Scorer and Which has been given to him. Some people just talk thrash while they don't even know the criteria of giving out the prestigious award but they just talk anyhow and also hate with passion and with no reason. Why???
michaelchress
115
Guys we all know the Ballon d’or was supposed to be for Lewa, Agh they must just stop these robbery things.
myklm
32
Who cares about Ballon d’Or now?without his fans.Even many great player's claimed it’s Kewy still his fans gonna say it’s him cause of Copa America than why no one before him ain't won Ballon d’Or with Copa America?The fact is when its come to Messi it's become favoritism.It’s kinda mafioso in football.You can judge by yourself why no one from France national team won Ballon d’Or in 2018 than?Is Copa is bigger than world cup & Euro?Besides Messi's Copa America state's he was super flop at Europe only 1 non penalty goal.While Lewy dominate like a single player in the team.Some fans gonna say Lewy was a goal scorer & Messi as a playmaker goalscorer than why he was a flop at Europe? Lewy robbed this time & I agree with 2013,2010 was controversial too.Last word Messi won by favoritism Lewy saw it with all his brilliance
zahcekmos
8
why is it that so many people can not even differentiate 2020 from 2021 why for goodness sake? Are you now telling me they should handover the Balon'dor to LEWA simply for the cancellation of the award Last year due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Common let talk sense this award is basically on personal performance including work create on the pitch including man of the match, So tell me what has LEWY achieve than LIONEL in year 2021 apart from goal, he deserves the best Striker/Scorer and Which has been given to him. Some people just talk thrash while they don't even know the criteria of giving out the prestigious award but they just talk anyhow and also hate with passion and with no reason. Why???
Wetin your Messi did in 2021?