Leaked Reports Award Ballon d’Or Title to Messi

Leaked reports yesterday speculated that Lionel Messi who last December led Argentina to win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has won the Ballon d’Or title for the eight time.

Messi, 36, was reported to have pipped last year’s free scoring Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland, to the coveted football award.

According to Spain’s medium, SPORT, the results for both the men and women’s awards to be presented at a ceremony in Paris on October 30 have already been leaked.

SPORTS reported that both Messi and Barcelona midfielder, Aitana Bonmati, who helped Spain secure the Women’s World Cup title against England back in August in Australia, will be handed the awards at the Chatelet Theatre in the French capital city.

The former Barcelona and PSG man now at David Beckham’s Inter Miami  is believed to have beaten tough competition from  Haaland, who spearheaded Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning season with 52 goals across all competitions, as well as his former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final that Messi ultimately prevailed in.

Speaking on the individual honour recently, Messi outlined how he has always prioritised trophies for the teams he represents, rather than individual accolades.

“I have said it many times, the Ballon d’Or is very important due to the recognition at the individual level, but I never gave it importance,” said Messi via UK’s  The Mirror.

“The most important thing for me was always the awards at the group level. I was lucky to have achieved everything in my career and after the World Cup I’m thinking about that award much less, my biggest award was that.

“If it (Ballon d’Or) arrives, good, and if not, nothing happens. I was lucky to achieve all my goals in my career and now I have new goals with this club (Inter Miami in the MLS). ”

If Messi is ultimately crowned winner of the Ballon d’Or, it will be the first time a player has been awarded the title while playing outside of Europe.