Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi was not among the nominees for the Ballon d’Or for the first time as the list that was revealed Friday included Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah. France Football magazine announced on their website the 30 players vying for the prestigious award in 2022. Also known as Golden Ball Award, the Ballon d’Or is given to the sport’s best player. Messi, 35, a Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) forward, has won the award a record seven times, including in 2021.

But the former Barcelona player was not been nominated for the award for the first time since 2005. Like Messi, another PSG star, Neymar, from Brazil was also left off the ballot. But Manchester United forward Ronaldo, Barcelona’s Lewandowski, Real Madrid’s Benzema and Liverpool winger Salah were among the other nominees. Portuguese veteran Ronaldo, 37, is a five-time winner in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Read More

Lionel Messi has been confirmed as an excellent set-piece specialist. The Argentine until a few years ago was not a specialist with freekicks with rival Cristiano Ronaldo known for set pieces. However, the 32-year-old has started scoring freekicks with alarming frequency and reached the magical number 50 against Valladolid in midweek.
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Messi has scoreda total of 50 foul goals divided into 44 with Barcelona and 6 with the Argentine national team, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s 54 are distributed as follows: 13 goals with Manchester United, 32 goals with Real Madrid and 9 with Portugal.
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