Lionel Messi Wins Record 6th Ballon d'Or

Lionel Messi won football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or for the record 6th time, with Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk coming in 2nd.

The Barcelona superstar is the first player to win a 6th golden ball trophy, moving one ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s haul of 5. The Juventus ace, who did not attend the ceremony in Paris came in 3rd, ahead of Sadio Mane in 4th.

“It was an amazing year, but there’s a couple of players like that who are a bit unnatural,” said Van Dijk, of Messi and Ronaldo. “So you need to respect greatness as well. I was close, but there was just someone a little bit better.

“I’m very proud of what I achieved last year with Liverpool and Holland, and hopefully we can do that again this year. But that will be tough with those guys around here still,” he added.

Megan Rapinoe won the women’s award after her exploits with the national team this year. Alisson Becker won the best goalkeeper’s Yachine Award while Matthijs de Ligt won the best young player’s Kopa Award.

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