Leo Messi wins his eighth Ballon d'Or

MADRID, 30 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Argentine Leo Messi has won this Monday, ahead of the Norwegian Erling Haaland and the Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, his eighth Ballon d'Or as best footballer of the year, which consolidates him as the most awarded player in the history of the award, which has been awarded France Football magazine at the Châtelet Theater in Paris.

In this way, the former Paris Saint-Germain player, now in the ranks of Inter Miami, takes up the baton of Frenchman Karim Benzema, who won the trophy in 2022, and adds the eighth to his collection (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023).

The title of world champion won in Qatar, which allowed Argentina to sew its third star on its shirt, has been the main endorsement of 'la Pulga', decisive in a final against France in which he managed to eclipse the impressive game of his former teammate in the Parisian team Kylian Mbappé.

The success in the World Cup made him forget the modest campaign with PSG, with which he fell far short of his best records in a season in which, despite winning Ligue 1, the League Cup and the French Super Cup, everything was marred by the team's early elimination in the round of 16 of the Champions League.

Behind him were the two great emerging stars of world football: Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé. The Norwegian, who had a brilliant debut year with Manchester City by achieving the treble -Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League-, was voted second best player in the world.

The Frenchman, the undisputed leader of PSG and who was only prevented by Messi from celebrating his second world title in Qatar, completed the podium of honor for the 2023 edition of the trophy. Belgian Kevin de Bruyne, City midfielder, finished fourth on the list.

Midfielder Rodri Hernández, the only Spanish player among the nominees, was finally fifth, after a crucial year in which, in addition to contributing decisively to Manchester City's treble with his goal in the 'Champions' final, he won the League of Nations with Spain.

In sixth place was the Brazilian forward of Real Madrid Vinícius Jr., who also received the Socrates Award for the most supportive initiative, while the Argentine Julián Álvarez finally finished seventh in the classification after a magical year in which he linked success with the 'citizens' and the world star with the albiceleste.

The list of the top ten was closed by Nigerian Victor Osimhen, Naples forward, eighth; the Portuguese Bernardo Silva, Manchester City player, ninth; and Real Madrid's Croatian Luka Modric, winner of the award in 2018, tenth.

Outside of the 'Top 10' were players like the Polish forward of FC Barcelona, ​​Robert Lewandowski, who was twelfth; his teammate in the Barça team, the Turkish Ilkay Gündogan, fourteenth; the defender of the award, the Frenchman Karim Benzema, former Real Madrid footballer and now at Al-Ittihad, sixteenth; the Englishman Jude Bellingham, previously at Borussia Dortmund and now in the ranks of Real Madrid, eighteenth; or the Atlético de Madrid attacker Antoine Griezmann, twenty-first.

Also among the 30 best players on the planet for France Football are the Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), eleventh; the Moroccan Yassine Bounou 'Bono' (Sevilla FC/Al-Hilal), thirteenth; the Argentine Emiliano 'Dibu' Martínez (Aston Villa), fifteenth; the Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Naples), seventeenth; Englishman Harry Kane (Tottenham/Bayern Munich), nineteenth; the Argentine Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan), twentieth; the South Korean Min-jae Kim (Naples/Bayern Munich); twenty-second; Cameroonian André Onana (Inter/Manchester United), twenty-third; the Englishman Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), twenty-fourth; Croatian Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig/Manchester City), twenty-fifth; the German Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), twenty-sixth; the Italian Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan), twenty-seventh; the Norwegian Martin Odegaard (Arsenal), twenty-eighth; Frenchman Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt/PSG), twenty-ninth; and the Portuguese Ruben Dias (Manchester City), thirtieth.