The first time Lionel Messi isn’t nominated in the Ballon d’Or top 30

DBasia.news – France Football as the organizer of the Ballon d’Or ceremony has released the names of the candidate players who are nominated to win this year. The result was not  surprising and the result was in line with last season’s predictions, but this is the first time Lionel Messi has not been nominated.

The 35-year-old player, for the first time since 2005, is not in the top 30 of the Ballon d’Or nominations despite the fact that he has won seven Ballon d’Ors in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, and 2021.

Judging from his performance last season, even though PSG won Ligue 1 with Mauricio Pochettino, La Pulga’s performance was far from satisfactory after moving from Barcelona. Messi struggled to blend into the game of his team-mates and in the end scored 11 goals and provided 15 assists in 34 matches in all competitions.

In fact, Lionel Messi has scored in Ligue 1  six times  which incidentally is not one of the best leagues in Europe. Unlike Messi’s rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, who entered the top 30 for being the top scorer and ‘lifting’ Manchester United last season with his goals.

Meanwhile, the nominees for the winner are dominated by two Premier League title contenders in recent seasons, Manchester City (winners of the Premier League twice in a row) and Liverpool, as well as Champions League winners Real Madrid.

Judging from the list of names announced by France Football, some strong candidates for this year’s winners are Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), and Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Barcelona).