BREAKING: Ballon d’Or 2019: Messi beats Dijk, Ronaldo to win record sixth prize
- Matthijs de Ligt wins best young player’s Kopa Award
- Alisson Becker named best goalkeeper
- Megan Rapinoe claims women’s award
- Messi clinches record sixth Ballon d’Or
Lionel Messi has won a record sixth Ballon d’Or crown at a ceremony in Paris.
The Barcelona star moved ahead of great rival Cristiano Ronaldo to take outright ownership of the record, seeing off Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk and Juventus’ Ronaldo.
The Argentinian struck 54 goals for club and country in the 2018-19 season.
The 32-year-old held off the challenge of Holland centre-back Van Dijk, whose talismanic performances helped Liverpool to the Champions League title.
Messi added another Ballon d’Or to the Best FIFA Men’s award in 2019, while Liverpool’s Van Dijk had claimed UEFA’s Men’s Player of the Year.
Van Dijk could have been the first defender to lift the Ballon d’Or since Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 but Messi scuppered the Liverpool man’s chances.
Ballon d’Or 2019 key points
- Matthijs de Ligt wins best young player’s Kopa Award
- Alisson Becker named best goalkeeper
- Megan Rapinoe claims women’s award
- Messi clinches record sixth Ballon d’Or
“Here’s a typically magnanimous Virgil van Dijk:”I never thought that I would be up for a Ballon d’Or until I was actually nominated,” said Van Dijk.
“It shows a lot about how my career has been. My career has been different from the winner here, I came late, but I never gave up on my dreams.
“I had to work hard every step of the way, so to be here makes me very proud. And I want to work hard and be here again next year.”
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