Lionel Messi beats Robert Lewandowski to Ballon d’Or and everyone is arguing

Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos did not agree at all with the decision to award Messi number one.

Speaking on his podcast, he said: “It’s absolutely not deserved.”

He went on to say, “There is no doubt that Messi, with Cristiano [Ronaldo], has been the player of the last decade, but this year there should’ve been others ahead of him.”

Kroos named his top three as Real Madrid team-mate Karim Benzema, Lewandowski and Jorginho.

Real Madrid legend Casillas chimed in too, saying: “It is increasingly difficult for me to believe in football awards. Messi is one of the best but you have to know who is the most outstanding player after the season. It’s not that hard.”

Even Messi heaped praise on Lewandowski. Accepting his award, he told the striker, “You deserve your Ballon d’Or. Last year everyone agreed that you were the winner,” adding, “I think France Football should give you your Ballon d’Or. You have to have it in your house.”

Not everyone is a hater

Having said all of that, there was plenty of support for the decision to recognise Messi’s abilities again.

Should Jorginho have been in the top three?

Chelsea’s Italian midfielder Jorginho came third after a trophy-laden 12 months with club and country winning the Champions League and Euro 2020, with Blues team-mate N’Golo Kante in fifth place.

What happened to Mohamed Salah?

Salah has been called the world’s current best player by a number of pundits this season and his Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. And yet he only finished seventh in the Ballon d’Or vote, one place behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

Klopp was surprised that the Egyptian didn’t get more votes.

“Mo definitely should have been higher up,” the German said on Tuesday and blamed the media.

“Is the Ballon d’Or a journalists vote? Then yeah, don’t ask me, it’s your fault! If you think he should be higher up, then you should convince your colleagues,” he said.

Klopp also weighed in on Lewandowski missing out.

“You can give it to Lionel Messi for the career he has had, all these kind of things, but then don’t give it to Robert Lewandowski this time – so it’s quite tricky to win it at all.”

Did women get ignored?

Another major criticism was the decision to hold the awards during an international break in women’s football, which meant that a lot of top players were unable to attend. – bbc.com