Lionel Messi has revealed that he would be voting for Paris Saint-Germain teammates, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar to win the 2021 Ballon d'Or despite being heavily favored to win the prestigious award for the 7th time.

Via Ollie Lewis

“Obviously I have two players in my team that I would vote for, Ney and Kylian,”

Messi managed to find the back of the net 37 times while providing 14 assists. The Argentinian superstar managed to snag his first international trophy after winning against Brazil in the Copa America, while also leading a disgruntled Barcelona side to a Copa del Rey victory against Athletic Bilbao before joining PSG this summer.

Other frontrunners of the award according to bookmakers' odds include the 2020 Ballon d'Or winner, Robert Lewandowski, and Chelsea's Jorginho, who have had significant and equally successful seasons.

Although Messi showed his clear allegiance to PSG's Neymar and Mbappe, who are both not as favored in winning the award, he acknowledged feats of other shortlisted players like Lewandowski and Real Madrid's Karim Benzema as he emphasized the importance of winning major trophies.

“Afterwards, there are players at the individual level who have had a great season, like Lewandowski, Benzema,”

“Lately, the titles have a lot of weight, if you won the Champions League, the Euro, the Copa America.”

“I think in previous years, we looked more for the player of the year, the best player. But now the titles also have a lot of weight.”

Nevertheless, Messi has always shown his desire to win team awards over individual awards, though extending his record to 7 Ballon d'Ors wouldn't hurt his resume whatsoever.