Lionel Messi takes the Ballon d’Or race under control

With the Ballon d’Or 2021 ceremony set to be held in Paris in a month’s time, the race for the Golden Orb is heating up. The 30-man nominee list was revealed earlier this month and there are some interesting names in the mix.

But, it will likely boil down to a few top contenders in the form of Jorginho (Chelsea), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) and Argentine superstar Lionel Messi (PSG).

Jorginho and Kante tasted European success with Chelsea, winning the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup, while the former also lifted the UEFA Euro 2020, which lends great support to his candidature for the Ballon d’Or.

As for Lewandowski and Benzema, the pair have been two of the most prolific goalscorers in the calendar year 2021. The former has tasted immense success with Bayern Munich, winning multiple trophies while the latter helped France to the UEFA Nations League.

However, the case for Ballon d’Or #7 for Lionel Messi seems to be getting stronger. The 34-year-old led a sub-par Barcelona side to the Copa del Rey triumph last season and then lifted his first trophy with Argentina, leading them to the Copa America glory.

Following his switch to PSG in the summer, Messi was off to a slow start to life in France. But, the little magician is now surely getting into his groove. Indeed, the 34-year-old scored two goals on Tuesday night helping Les Parisiens beat RB Leipzig 3-2 in a tightly-contested encounter in the UEFA Champions League.

PSG were trailing 1-2 with a little over 20 minutes left on the clock. But, Messi turned it around for his new club, equalising in the 67th minute after combining with Kylian Mbappe, before dispatching an audacious Panenka penalty seven minutes later to win it for the French capital club.

This comes after he had scored a brilliant goal against Manchester City to help PSG to a crucial 2-0 win. Messi, in 2021, has a tally of 38 goals and 14 assists to his name for club and country. And while that is short of Lewandowski’s tally (52 goals, 8 assists), the former Barcelona star’s international success may end up tilting the scales in his favour.