Lionel Messi has won a record-breaking seventh Ballon d'Or.The Paris Saint-Germain superstar has been rewarded for a glorious year that saw him win the Copa America with Argentina and bow out of his Barcelona spell with yet another Pichichi Trophy.Messi has duly moved two titles clear of his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo as the most decorated player in the history of the prize having also won in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
Messi wins 2021 Ballon d'Or
However, it will certainly go down as one of Messi's harder-fought victories because many fans and pundits thought that Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski was actually the deserving winner.
Having scored more than 60 goals in the calendar year, Lewandowski was forced to settle for the best striker prize and status as the bookies' favourite to win FIFA's 'The Best' award.
Truth be told, it does feel like a gutting situation for Lewandowski when you consider that the Pole only missed out on a Ballon d'Or title due to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the 2020 edition.
Messi's classy comment to Lewandowski
But Lewandowski could at least find solace in the fact that the man who defeated him, Messi himself, showed nothing but class when he took to the stage to collect his trophy.
Having thanked his Barcelona and PSG teammates, as well as everybody involved in the Argentina set-up, Messi was sure to take the time to address his biggest rival for the gong.
According to Get French Football News, Messi said directly to Lewandowski: "You deserve your Ballon D'Or. Last year, everyone was in agreement to say that you were the big winner."
Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call pure class.
Everyone in agreement with Messi
And countless footballing figures were in agreement with Messi's sentiments because it was almost universally agreed that Lewandowski would have been the deserving 2020 Ballon d'Or winner.
Gary Lineker even tweeted in reaction to the Argentine's comments: "Messi agrees. Messi’s right. Give @lewy_official the award. Such an easy thing to do, and the right thing to do."
Whether or not France Football decides to retrospectively give the award to Lewandowski remains to be seen, but there's no denying that it would be scandalous if he never won a Ballon d'Or title.
But even if those fears were to come true, Lewandowski can rest assured that he gave it absolutely everything because scoring almost 70 goals in a calendar year is one hell of a way to 'lose'.
