Lionel Messi was forced to play second fiddle at FIFA's 'The Best' awards on Monday night.Despite having lifted a record-breaking seventh Ballon d'Or trophy just a few weeks ago, the Paris Saint-Germain star was made to settle for a silver medal during FIFA's awards gala in Switzerland.Many fans felt as though Messi was not the deserving winner of France Football's plaque over Robert Lewandowski and those supporters will have much preferred FIFA's verdict on proceedings.
Lewandowski gets the better of Messi
That's because the Bayern Munich star collected more votes from a combination of national team captains and managers as well as journalists and fans over Messi and Mohamed Salah.
And to be fair, it felt just that Lewandowski retained his FIFA crown when you consider that he bagged no less than 69 goals across a calendar year that reaped the European Golden Shoe.
Perhaps the only shame is that Lewandowski wasn't able to enjoy his victory with everybody else in the room like Messi was lucky enough to do during the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris.
A digital ceremony
Poor Lewandowski has been forced to collect his FIFA gongs in a COVID-19 world where the safest precaution has been to beam many of the nominees into the studio via video calls.
However, just because many of the contenders couldn't attend in person, that didn't mean that they weren't donning their finest threads and waiting with frayed nerves to find out who would win.
Well, we say 'many of' because Mr. Messi decided to take a more casual approach to his digital cameo at FIFA's 'The Best' awards and don't think for one second that we mean that as a criticism.
Messi adorably casual on video call
Besides, it couldn't help feeling adorable that the Barcelona legend simply appeared as though he'd entered the chat for a family Zoom quiz or was only half-listening to a company meeting.
Whether it was talking to other people in the room or seemingly tapping his screen, there was something brilliantly casual about the way that Messi made an appearance at FIFA's swanky gala.
So, do away with the bow ties and cocktail dresses by watching an amusing compilation of Messi chilling at the FIFA awards as though it was just a catch-up with the lads down below:
It's just another day at the office for you, isn't it, Leo?
Playing it casual
We don't know whether it's the music overlay or the amusing switches of the camera angle, but we can't help chuckling at the fact that Messi's attention is clearly wandering every now and again.
While there's certainly a chance that he knew he wouldn't win the award in advance anyway, that doesn't make it any less badass that he might have given a speech while only half-concentrating.
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Just imagine if he had actually won and had to unmute himself, casually revealing himself as hilariously unprepared with the sound of his children playing in the background.
In the end, that wasn't to be the case with Lewandowski scooping the top male prize, but Messi couldn't have made it any clear that his endless talents makes these award galas so routine.
