Ballon d’Or 2019 Award Winners Highlights: Lionel Messi won the men’s top prize. (File Photo)
Ballon d’Or 2019 Award Winners Highlights: Lionel Messi won a record sixth Ballon d’Or while World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe earned the women’s prize on Monday. A day after scoring his 614th career goal for Barcelona, Messi reclaimed the trophy he last won in 2015. Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk was second in the polling, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo, who shared the record of five Ballon d’Ors with Messi until Monday.
Last year, it was Luka Modric who won the 2018 Ballon d’Or, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo’s and Lionel Messi’s decade-long over the award. Messi and Ronaldo had won every Ballon d’Or since 2008. Scroll down for all the highlights-
Live Blog
Lionel Messi's son Mateo was seen bouncing up and down in his chair laughing as Messi took to the stage - although his brother Thiago seemed far less impressed.
Lionel Messi it is! He wins an unprecented sixth Ballon d'Or.
Messi's stats in 2018-19:
La Liga: 36 goals, 13 assists
Champions League: 12 goals, 3 assists
La Liga winner
Best Fifa Men's Player
European Golden Shoe
These are the final four nominees- two of them are legends and two from Liverpool.
Sadio Mane
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Virgil van Dijk
What a great example for the girls growing up and dreaming on achieving all their dreams and fighting to be heard.
Results:
1 Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC)
2 Lucy Bronze (England/Lyon)
3 Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride)
Bayern's Robert Lewandowski is on the stage to present the award-Yachine Trophy. Alisson Becker (Brazil/Liverpool), wins the trophy which is awarded to the best goalkeeper in memory of former USSR goalkeeper Lev Yashin.
Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax & Juventus/Netherlands) is the winner of the Kopa Trophy, which is awarded to the best men's player under the age of 21.
"Messi is still the best player in the world," the centre-back said in June. "He deserves it as long as he plays. It doesn't matter if he was in the Champions League final or not."
So it is true that Cristiano Ronaldo will not be attending tonight's event in Paris for tonight's gala. Remember he did not attend the ceremony for FIFA's The Best back in September. Reportedly he is not even in the top three players in the placings for the France Football award this year.
So its now time for the main event-
The World Cup winner is here-
1. Sergio Aguero Man City
2. Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool
3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Arsenal
4. Alisson Becker Liverpool
5. Karim Benzema Real Madrid
6. Keviin De Bruyne Man City
7. Frenkie de Jong Barcelona
8. Matthjis de Ligt Juventus
9. Joao Felix Atletico Madrid
10. Roberto Fimino Liverpool
11. Antoine Griezmann Barcelona
12. Eden Hazard Real Madrid
13. Kalidou Koulibaly Napoli
14. Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich
15. Hugo Lloris Tottenham
16. Riyad Mahrez Man City
17. Sadio Mane Liverpool
18. Marquinhos PSG
19. Kylian Mbappe PSG
20. Lionel Messi Barcelona
21. Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus
22. Mohamed Salah Liverpool
23. Bernardo Silva Man City
24. Heung-min Son Tottenham
25. Raheem Sterling Man City
26. Dusan Tadic Ajax
27. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen Barcelona
28. Donny van de Beek Ajax
29. Virgil van Dijk Liverpool
30. Georginio Wijnaldum Liverpool
"Messi should have 10 more Ballons d'Or than Cristiano [Ronaldo]. But in any case, he's going to have at least one more..."Barcelona's sporting vice-president Javier Bordas tells Cadena COPE.
Latest visuals-
"I wonder if this, like many other Ballon d’Or awards in the past, will make it crystal clear to players who are clearly worthy of winning the top prize, but end up missing out, that being at Real Madrid and Barcelona makes a significant and perhaps decisive impact," says a fan
Liverpool's rock-
The female cast-
The man who is keeping Liverpool safe in the Premier League-
2019 calendar year:
Most goals: Lewandowski
Most assists: Muller
Most NT/UEFA goals: Ronaldo
Most club goals: Lewandowski
C. America winner: Brazil
C. America MVP: Alves
CL winner: Liverpool
CL MVP: Van Dijk
Will the Barcelona forward beat Virgil van Dijk to the Ballon d'Or?