Messi Ballon dor 2019: 3 reasons why Lionel Messi should win Ballon D’or ahead of rest of the contenders considering his exceptional performances.
France Football magazine will announce the winner of prestigious Ballon d’Or winner tonight in Paris. Lionel Messi and Virgil Van Dijk are tipped to be leading in the race of winning the award.
There is a leaked list surfaced last night allegedly claiming Messi as the winner of Ballon d’Or 2019. On the other hand, Van Dijk has a loud shout at the award as his exceptional display of the game in Liverpool’s triumph in Champions League was exceptional.
Meanwhile, the Argentine International has been phenomenal in the calendar year and has proved that it would take something more from Van Dijk to claim this award over him.
Van Dijk won the UEFA Best player of the year award and his fans were rooting for him for the FIFA Player of the year award, but in the end, Messi took it home. Now with Messi continuing his form into this season, he is slowly heading towards the award.
Amidst all of this, Van Dijk has also revealed that he is an admirer of Messi and it would not be anyone’s defeat if the little magician wins the award tonight.
Hence, to validate Messi’s claim on the award, we list out 3 reasons why the Barcelona captain should win the award ahead of anyone at the Gala tonight.
1. Exceptional stats and consistency in numbers
Lionel Messi’s numbers are exceptional in every aspect. Be it from goalscoring to being creative. The European golden boot winner from last season has continued his form in this half of the year, which is bringing him at advantage over the others.
Considering, the Ballon d’Or considers stats obtained in a calendar year. Nobody even comes close to the Argentine International. In 54 appearances for his club and country so far, Messi has amassed 46 goals and 17 assists to lead the chart.
That means he has directly contributed to the 63 goals scored by his club and country together in just 54 games. Moreover, Messi suffered a long term injury at the start of the season but the 32-year-old returned and in no time started fetching numbers.
In this season, Messi has already bagged 11 goals and 8 assists in the 14 games he has played in this season. It is not about numbers but the overall impact Messi brings to the game even if he is at his lowest.
2. Carried a struggling squad with underwhelming tactics
There is no doubt Messi has been carrying Barcelona since a significant period of time, and when he struggles the whole team struggles. Since November 2018 Messi has missed eight games and only the 5-2 win against Real Betis in August grabbed them three points.
There are several shortcomings at Barcelona, plus with Ernesto Valverde being criticized for his tactics and often caught by the opposition, Messi has been there for his rescue.
There are already talks of Barcelona’s potential struggle post-Messi era and with this, the Argentine undoubtedly carried the Blaugranas until Liverpool knocked them out of the Champions League.
3. Virgil Van Dijk falling short on Messi’s achievements
If the award had been on the basis of performances in 2018/19 season the Van Dijk would have had a better claim than Messi on the award. But since the award is given on the basis of 2019.
Van Dijk in the last season was unplayable and even Messi failed to cross him in the two matches he played against him last season. The Dutch International has a record of more than 50 games where he has not been dribbled past.
Such exceptional performances by him made him the best defender in the world and propelled him to win UEFA Player of the year 2018/19 and PFA Player of the year.
But coming back to 2019 since summers, Van Dijk has seen a dip in form, he is just a few notches below to his last season performances and his team Liverpool are consistently conceding goals. This doesn’t mean he has become worse but he hasn’t been on par with Messi’s brilliance, which is giving an advantage to Messi.
Despite it, Van Dijk’s side is on a red hot form and winning matches, they are 10 points clear of the table, and on the verge of qualifying into the next round in the Champions League.
