France Football reportedly informed Lionel Messi that he’s the 2019 Ballon d’Or winner ahead of Virgil van Dijk.
That’s the claim from Mundo Deportivo, who say a group from the magazine travelled to Barcelona to deliver the news. It would be Messi’s sixth – a record – and his first since 2015.
Van Dijk is a heavy favourite for the Ballon d’Or, alongside Messi, and one of the two was always the likely winner. It appears that the Argentine’s stellar year for Barcelona, in which he won yet another La Liga title, has won out, though.
What RTK has to say
It’s certainly a shame if Van Dijk has missed out. He’s been an absolute revelation and has really elevated defending as a whole this year.
That might sound like an exaggeration but who was the last defender to have such a spotlight? Sergio Ramos scores plenty of goals, sure, but for out-and-out defending, Van Dijk is something we haven’t seen for a while.
So Red-bias put to one side for a second, there would be something special about a defender winning. The last was Fabio Cannavaro back in 2006, although that was partly for being a key figure in a World Cup win. He also didn’t have to compete with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
But then, you can’t really argue against Messi winning it. His influence on Barcelona has been beyond belief yet again and he’s scored and assisted at a level only he can.
No, they didn’t win the Champions League but it seems overly harsh to hold that against Messi – he did everything possible to get them into the final. Slack defending and teammates missing the multiple chances he created at Anfield let him down.
And so you can’t really begrudge him the win, if he indeed has won. But you can say the same about Van Dijk after a sensational season of his own.
Truth is, both deserve it. And in this era of domination by two players, simply being on that level is huge praise in of itself. Very few, if any, have managed that over the last 12 years.
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