Messi complicates the golden race with Cristiano Ronaldo

Messi reigned again in Paris. With the distances between home and theater shortened by becoming a Paris Saint-Germain player, his friend Luis Suárez handed over his seventh Ballon d’Or to the best player of 2021 ahead of Lewandowski, for whom he requested that of 2020, and of Jorginho.

At 34 years old, Leo Messi is at the top of the record for this award with seven trophies ahead of the great competitor throughout his career: Cristiano Ronaldo, who owns five. In addition to establishing itself in the first place, the current situation seems to put face the final stage of the race between both for the Rosario.

In search of another Champions League

“That beautiful trophy”, as Leo baptized the Champions League, could not return it to Barcelona, ​​but without a doubt it is the great objective of his move to Paris. Although Cristiano Ronaldo has dominated more than Messi in the second half of his career in this competition, being the great star of the white dynasty in Europe, The Argentine has jumped on the bandwagon of one of the last finalists while Cristiano is in a project that continues in a long reconstruction since his previous departure. Of course, in this case, there is more dispute than it may seem a priori.

The choice of Messi is justified on paper, although on the green the trident with Mbappé and Neymar has yet to fit. Leo is looking for his site and also enough continuity to show his best level. The last two league games were just the second time that Rosario’s player has chained two games in a row in Ligue 1. Against Nantes he released his scoring locker and against Saint-Ettiene he distributed three assists.

More absent in Ligue 1, the magic of 30 is being seen in the Champions League with a key goal in the first game against City and two also of vital importance against Leizpig. Outstanding leaders in the league and in the fight for the first place of the group in Europe, Messi looks like he could finish somewhat ahead at the title level in recent years given PSG’s Sunday in France and the role of the current United in the Premier.

In the continental race, Cristiano continues to maintain the type. With United in the midst of a crisis in the Premier, the Portuguese showed why he is considered by many to be the best player in the history of the Champions League, scoring decisive goals in all the games. Only one was not worth points: the first against Young Boys. Even so, United seems far from being able to reign in the Champions League again.

In this race, Messi leaves with more favoritism when arriving at a project much more done and close to winning, But Cristiano is pushing himself to place this United higher than expected, as he already did with Juventus, another project that went into reconstruction earlier than expected and in which he could not break the long European drought.

The Copa América breaks the barrier and the importance of Qatar

If club performance matters, the Qatar World Cup will be a key event for the future of this race. Here, Messi is better situated.

Breaking the barrier that his generation had with the titles in the National Team increased his assets for this Ballon d’Or and now, with Scaloni’s project settled and the broken streak of the lost finals, Argentina will arrive in Qatar in a state of optimism. With the ticket already secured in the tough South American classification, Messi can face one of his last World Cups in one of the best situations at the national level. Given the magnitude of the player and the comparisons that were also made with one of his former coaches, Maradona, giving Argentina a new star could well put him, again, at the top of one of these galas.

Cristiano will have to make the crisis an opportunity. The Portuguese are on the verge of elimination in a tough play-off where luck has been far from smiling on them. After losing the ticket to the World Cup in Da Luz, the forecasts suggest that they will have to play against Italy, the current European champion. If he’s key to getting through the qualifying round, he’ll earn points in this individual race that could add to his World Cup performance. If he stays out, Russia would probably be his last date. There is no shortage of travel companions for the Portuguese (Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, João Félix, Ruben Dias …), but the expected results with which he could again tie with Messi do not arrive.

A worrying symptomatology

In an interview in Le Parisien, Papin gave the race between Cristiano and Messi over, but the victory of 30 keeps it alive although it is sensed that he is at a transcendental point in the face of the final result.

Since they met for the first time on the podium in 2007 behind Kaká, this 2021 has been the second time that Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of the first three. Both occasions also coincided with victories for Leo Messi. In 2010, the Argentine beat his teammates from Barcelona, ​​Iniesta and Xavi. In this 2021, Cristiano did not start among the favorites and finished sixth behind Leo himself, Lewandowski, Jorginho, Benzema and Kanté. The bad collective year of Juventus and the faltering start of Manchester United ‘condemned’ a Cristiano who, on an individual level, threw excellent data surpassing the barrier of 30 goals last season once again and remaining top scorer of the Eurocup. The dramatic and early elimination against Porto in the Champions League, the fall in the League against Inter and the exit from the Eurocup against Belgium at the first exchange complicated his candidacy.

If Cristiano Ronaldo knows something in this case, it is to stay even more years than expected at the top and start a new comeback. Until between 2009 and 2012, Leo had four consecutive victories with Cristiano as second three times. The one from Madeira waited for his moment and established himself on the track record with victories in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Now, an old challenge is complicated in front of its great competitor.