Messi is not nominated for the Ballon d'Or (Cristiano Ronaldo is)

2022-08-12T20:27:11.284Z

Lionel Messi is not one of the 30 candidates for the Ballon d'Or: although he was champion with PSG, he was not close to lifting the Champions League. The seven-time winner will not be able to defend his title.

Messi's goal from Chilean with PSG 0:40

(CNN Spanish) -

In the year of the World Cup, after leading the Argentine team to a memorable unbeaten run and being champion in France, Lionel Messi is not one of the 30 candidates for the Ballon d'Or.

France Football

magazine , which delivers the prestigious award, the finalists revealed this Friday and the Argentine – who holds the 2021 title – will not be able to repeat.

In the favorites of fans and experts, Messi was not the top favourite, as many take it for granted that it will be Karim Benzema —who led Real Madrid to a new Champions League and LaLiga title in Spain—.

But the fact that Messi, who is still a world-class player, is not on the final list takes many by surprise.

Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City are the teams with the most nominees, with a total of six.

There are two Hispanic Americans on the list: the Colombian Luis Díaz, who arrived at Liverpool in January from Porto, and the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez, who played the season with Benfica and has just arrived at that same English team with a stellar debut.

The Brazilians in dispute are Vinicius, Casemiro and Fabinho.

The list has a strong presence of Portuguese: Cristiano Ronaldo, with a scoring season but without titles at Manchester United, along with Bernando Silva, Cancelo and Leão.

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It is the first time that Messi - who has won the award seven times - has not been on the list since 2006. After leaving Barcelona a year ago, Messi had a decent performance at PSG in the 2021-22 season, but not spectacular. as in previous years with the culé club: 6 goals in the league and with a performance to forget in the Champions League: he was eliminated in the round of 16 by Real Madrid.

Neither is Neymar and there are no Argentines on the list of candidates.

The prize is awarded on October 17 in Paris.