Lionel Messi won his record-breaking seventh Ballon d'Or on Monday in Paris, but it didn't come without controversy. Many people believed that Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski deserved the prestigious award and it appears Cristiano Ronaldo thought the same.
While the Portuguese international didn't actually say Lewa should've been handed the biggest honor in football, he did agree that Messi had no right winning it in a recent Instagram post:
Ronaldo likes to stay away from all this drama, but the context of this post is spot-on. Lionel Messi guided Barcelona to a disappointing third-place finish in LaLiga last term and although his 30 goals were impressive, Lewandowski bagged 41 in the Bundesliga, a league record.
Should he really be honored with the Ballon d'Or strictly because of the Copa America triumph with Argentina? I mean, he led the tournament in goals and assists, but what Lewa did with Bayern is unheard of. Across all competitions, he scored 53 times. The award was his for the taking in 2020 but the ceremony was canceled because of the pandemic. The Pole was robbed this time around by Lionel Messi and he even admitted that Lewandowski should've captured it.
There's undoubtedly a bias from Cristiano Ronaldo, too. He and Messi essentially took turns winning the Ballon d'Or for years and to see his rival win it again definitely irked the Manchester United talisman.
At this rate, it doesn't look like Messi is going to win it again as he continues to struggle with PSG this season.