Argentina’s Leo Messi was chosen yesterday as the best player of 2022 by FIFA, five months after he was not even on the list of 30 candidates for the Ballon d’Or.
The man from Rosario beat the other two finalists, France’s Karim Benzema, winner of the Ballon d’Or, and Kylian Mbappé, top scorer at last year’s World Cup.
Messi, chosen in Qatar as the best player of the World Cup, in his 35 years adds a new personal award, the second The Best, after the one achieved in 2009, an award in which he was a finalist in 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021.
With his seven Golden Balls, the Argentine rules individual awards in the world, equaling The Best awards with Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, who won it in 2020 and 2021, and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, in 2016 and 2017.
“It’s a pleasure to be back here,” said Messi, who rounded off Argentina’s night in which coach Lionel Scaloni was chosen as the best coach, Emiliano Martínez as the best goalkeeper, and the Albiceleste fans as the best fans.
The Argentinian captain is grateful to his teammates and said that the award is “recognition of the whole group for what they have done”.
“It was crazy for me to realize my dream after so much struggle, so much insistence, it finally came and it’s the most beautiful thing that happened to me in my career, every player’s dream, few can make it come true, and I was able to do it,” he said .
Messi thanked for the support of “the family, the people of Argentina who in this way lived that beautiful moment that will remain in the memory for a lifetime.”
Source: Panama America
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