Which Prince will take the Crown: Who Will Win the Ballon d’Or this year?: The Ballon D’Or is a historic prize that achieved a status that exceeds and belittles, in importance, pretty much any other individual accolade in football. The Ballon d’Or is the unambiguous proof that, at that determined season, the winner was indeed the best player in the world.
Which Prince will take the Crown: Who Will Win the Ballon d’Or this year?
The list, as it stands, comprises some of the best players of this year’s Champions League season, as well as the last season’s best. If you remember, it was Chelsea who won the last Champions League, against a resigned Pep Guardiola, who saw his expectations at the peak of Europe frustrated again by the tactical nuances of Tuchel.
The Ballon D’Or is usually received by a Champions League Winner but, from 2 to 2 years, there are other competitions that can influence the prize, namely the European Championship and the World Cup.
2021 was the year of Euro 2020 (yeah, I know, but Covid19 also ruined 2020 and it’s still named 19 so… yeah), and Messi won Copa America last season. So, how exactly do these two big competitions influence the decision?
The Main Contenders:
1. Jorginho
Jorginho has to be the main contender: he won both the European Championship and the Champions League, with Italy and Chelsea respectively. As a kind of a box-to-box sometimes turned into a less-refined Pirlo (well, who could replicate Pirlo?), he is the main organizer of both Chelsea and Italy, being sub-captain in both teams.
Of both Italian and Brazilian descent, he played 12 out of the 13th games of Chelsea on the Champions League, functioning as a tightly notched pendulum that effectively led his teams to big titles.
Bella Italia just wouldn’t be the same without Jorginho, a technical virtuoso with an insane tactical acuity, a second manager on the field and, by far, the leading contender, perhaps along with Lewandowski.
2. Lewandowski
First off, Lewa saw the Ballon D’Or being stolen from him last season. Then, he is the biggest goal scorer in all of Europe – again – with 41 goals in Bundesliga alone. Another 7 goals in the other competitions made him with the Golden Boot, and have a trampoline effect on Bayern.
It’s a pity, though, that Lewandowski hasn’t won any major trophy for Bayern Munich or his national squad, or he would definitively have it in the bag by now.
He’s still on the run, and the fact that there wasn’t a Ballon D’Or last year can make voters think on the last two seasons instead of only the last one, and if that’s the case: Lewandowski will definitively win.
3. Donnarumma
Considered the best player in Euro 2020, Donnarumma just traded AC Milan for PSG this last summer. He’s in the list and rightly so, but there’s a lot of doubts that he even stands a chance. Without any title with his club, and “only” a European Championship to show for himself, he will obviously pale in comparison to the first to in this list.
4. Cristiano and Messi
Cristiano and Messi absolutely dominated this prize for more than a decade. Players like Iniesta, Sneijder, Xavi, and so much others saw their exploits being put aside while these two aliens were destroying and rebuilding our perception of football.
A lot of football fans still think it’s, in a way, convenient to think about these two as potential contenders to the Ballon D’Or but, as things stand, there is not a valid reason, especially considering the specificities that help identify the winner.
So, yes, Messi won Copa America. Ronaldo was the best scorer of Calcio. Yet, they weren’t present in the two biggest competitions, and for Messi, although winning Copa America, his former team – Barcelona – didn’t properly show any type of differential that can put him aside from another player like De Bruyne, Lukaku or even Kane: yes, it’s not fair to value Copa America as much as a final of the European Championship.
As much as it would ignite the rivalry once again, one can bet none of these two giants will win the Ballon d’Or. This year, or ever again.
