In the last few days, the football world has erupted with hate towards France Football and the Ballon d’Or. Fans have been complaining about the recent winner (Lionel Messi) and thought that the Polish Star Robert Lewandowski deserved it over him by a mile so let’s take a look at that.

Messi last year had 41 Goals and 17 assists in 56 games played and won a total of 2 trophies (Copa Del Rey, Copa America). On the other hand, Robert Lewandowski had 61 goals and 10 assists in 51 games played and won a total of 4 trophies including individual trophies (Club World Cup, Euro Golden Shoe, DFL Supercup, Bundesliga Title). 

As you can see Lewandowski has clearly had the better season, but what set him back was Messi’s Copa America win which is what seems to be the only logical argument for Messi to win the Ballon d’Or. 

Our question is how can only winning Copa America, win you the most prestigious individual trophy. Our question is left unanswered since why Suarez, Sanchez, and many others did not win it in the season they won the Copa America while having matched Messi’s current stats at the time.

Let’s dig in a little bit further Messi lost in the R16 in the Champions League which was their worst exit in 8 years. While Lewandowski went to the quarters and sadly could not go further because of an injury he had while playing with Poland. In the league, Messi ended up Being third which was Barcelona’s worst position in 13 years. 

While Robert Lewandowski won the Bundesliga while breaking Gerd Muller’s record of most goals scored in a Bundesliga season.

We are back to Copa America which is Messi’s only reasonable claim for the Ballon D’or aside from his incredible stats of course. Although what has been popularized as an amazing performance by him during this was rather not as much as it was made out to be.

Yes, he did have 4 goals and 5 assists but all of which came against very weak sides his only defence is 2 assists and 1 goal against Uruguay, Chile, and Columbia who are just shadows of the former selves and have even had a tough time qualifying in the World Cup

This should be easy for these sides in such a weak qualifying group with the likes of Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Venezuela. The most difficult game was in the final against Brazil in which Messi seemed like he wasn’t even on the pitch. Lastly what also has to be taken into account is the fact that Copa America is seemed to be played every year nowadays which gives more chances for Argentina to win it.

The last reason why Messi did not deserve the Ballon D’or is the fact his whole persona changed this year. The quiet Kid that never seemed to do anything wrong died last year getting his first red card in a fight with a Bilbao Player and in Copa America he was seen screaming at Yerry Mina and mocked him for his penalty miss. 

Weirdly Zidane was stripped of the award twice for headbutting an opponent at Juve in 2000 and in the World Cup in 2006 but Messi while not doing the same thing still should have been penalized as Zidane did.

The last thing we wanted to talk about was The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award and why it might become the most prestigious award. Unlike the Ballon D’or, it is a fan-voted award which might take away some of the bias that media have clearly had against or for another player. Clearly, we are not the only ones since fans all over the world have thought the same, and rightfully so since they deserve to have a vote. 

The Media is an important component of the sport, but fans are the reason why the sport exists and deserve to have a say and most rightfully deserve to have the most influence on who the winner should be.