🚨🗣️ @DiarioOle: "Why Lionel Messi should be the one who wins the Ballon d'Or 👇✨ "The pain of losing a World Cup final shifted the focus of the debate when FIFA awarded Rodri the Player of the Tournament award. Argentina had surrendered their world title to an overwhelming Spain, but Messi had not lost his throne. "The Ballon d’Or is not an award handed out by an institution, but rather the result of a vote, and that vote will say whatever it says. But looking at the candidates, Leo deserves this distinction more in 2026 than in some previous editions he won, when perhaps he could have missed out. "Of course, the sporting achievements of players’ clubs and national teams matter, and in a World Cup year, the tournament carries enormous weight. If that were the only criterion, the debate would be limited to Messi, Lamine, and Rodri. "Yamal looks destined to become a megastar, but that wasn’t the version we saw at the 2026 World Cup. Spain played so well that they lifted the trophy with a fairly ordinary Lamine. So would Rodri, already chosen as the best player of the World Cup, be a stronger candidate? Even though he didn’t finish the final on the pitch? Would his outstanding performance in the semifinal be enough? "If we broaden the perspective, Mbappé maintained his remarkable goalscoring efficiency, putting up record-breaking numbers, but his overall level and influence on France’s play were a step below. Dembélé, because he won the Champions League? The World Cup outweighs the Champions League. Kane? Seriously, Kane, who was completely outplayed and effectively knocked out of the tournament by the Argentine captain? "Of course, the shirt matters. It influences how we see things from this side of the world. Perhaps it’s simply the desire to keep seeing Messi on his eternal pedestal. Maybe there are thousands of more “scientific” and less emotional reasons than those presented in this column. "But that is precisely what football is about. It’s what the game makes us feel beyond the result. That infectious energy, that hat-trick, those tears, that amateur spirit, that self-assist, that superhero cape he put on to turn around a story that seemed destined to go wrong, time and time and time again. That cross with his supposedly “weaker” foot. "That amateur spirit captured in his tears, in that clenched fist, in that impossible cross from a 39-year-old kid who should be collecting his ninth Ballon d’Or in London."

MR. BALLON 'OR 👑