Lionel Messi awarded Ballon d'Or
- Source: Global Times
- [23:20 December 01 2009]
- Comments
Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Argentina Tuesday was awarded the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) accolade as Europe-based Footballer of the Year.
Messi, whom Cristiano Ronaldo beat into second place last season, easily saw off the Portuguese striker, who moved to Real Madrid from Manchester United, by 473 points to 233.
Messi got the vote for a tremendous year in which his mercurial talents stood out for Barcelona as the Catalan club marched to an unprecedented treble of Champions League [in which he scored against Man United in the final], Spanish league title and Spanish Cup.
Barca teammates were also hailed with midfielder Xavi taking third place with 170 points while Iniesta was fourth on 149.
In fifth place was Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, who left Barca to join Inter Milan in the summer after winning his second Champions League. He was the club's other scorer in the 2-0 final win over United as Barcelona won their third crown.
Messi, who Argentina coach Diego Maradona picked out as his heir four years ago, was in the youth team in Newells Old Boys in his homeland before Barcelona discovered him. The club swiftly brought him to Europe, paying for treatment for the youngster's growth hormone deficiency.
"Without growth hormones Lionel would have grown, at best, to 1.5 meter by the time he reached adulthood,"his father Jorge once told L'Equipe magazine.
Messi becomes the first Argentine to win the award, opened to non-European nationals 15 years ago with Liberia's George Weah the first non-European winner.
Brazilian Kaka, who won two years ago, came in sixth this year with just 58 points.
Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahomovic, now Messi's teammate at Barca after arriving from Inter Milan, placed seventh ahead of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, Chelsea's Cote D'Ivoire striker Didier Drogba and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard's Liverpool teammate Fernando Torres was 11th and Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas was 12th.
Thierry Henry, another of Messi's Barca colleagues who has never won the award, came in 15th.
The Ballon d'Or award was conceived by France Football's chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot and his colleagues in 1956. The inaugural winner was Stanley Matthews of Blackpool.
Originally, journalists could only vote for European players at European clubs. In 1995, there was a change in the rules to allow non-European players to win the award if they played for a European club. The first non-European to win it was Milan's George Weah in the same year.
The rules were changed again in 2007 so that players of any nationality around the world could be eligible. As a result, the number of journalists allowed to vote also increased – 96 journalists from around the world chose their top five players, as opposed to the 52 Europe based journalists in 2006.
Agencies
