Posted on by Bowie Qiu

The Premier League dominates but La Liga takes the award for the 12th consecutive time.

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi was awarded the Ballon d’Or in Paris yesterday and became the first player in history to have won the award six times. The Argentine beat Virgil van Dijk, who won the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award earlier this season, and long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the process.

Messi replicated his sensational standards in 2019 to earn him the award for world’s best player once again. The now 32-year-old forward has been La Liga’s top-scorer as well as top-provider with 36 goals and 13 assists in only 34 matches. He also managed a further 12 goals in only 10 Champions League appearances.

Former England striker Gary Lineker, who was runner-up at the 1986 Ballon d’Or himself, said on Twitter that Messi is “head and shoulders the best player in world football”.

“He plays a game that is both joyous and incomprehensible to mere mortals,” Lineker said. “The award is totally meritorious.”

Even his main competitor for this year’s award, Virgil van Dijk, who finished second in the rankings, was nothing short of praise for the Argentine. He said at the ceremony that he lost to “someone better” than himself.

“Sometimes you come up against players like him [Messi], who are a bit unnatural,” van Dijk said. “Six Ballon d’Ors, you gotta respect greatness.”

However, van Dijk, who was named PFA Player of the Season 2018/19, did not have a bad year either. The 28-year-old Dutch centre-back has qualified for the UEFA Euro 2020 and made it to the final of the UEFA Nations League with the Netherlands and won the Champions League with Liverpool as well.

He was the first Liverpool player since Fernando Torres in 2008 to be nominated for the prestigious award and would have been the first defender to win it since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 after his world cup winning performances the same year.

A total of 15 Premier League players were nominated for the Ballon d’Or 2019. Six made it into the top ten, of which four were from Liverpool.

Although none of them could beat Lionel Messi to the award, Liverpool shot-stopper Alisson Becker won the inaugural Yachin trophy for the best goalkeeper. The trophy was introduced this year to commemorate Lev Yashin, who was the first and only goalkeeper to ever win the Ballon d’Or in 1963.

USA national team forward Megan Rapinoe has become the second-ever winner of the Ballon d’Or Feminin after Ada Hederberg claimed the award last year. The 34-year old won the Women’s World Cup previously this year while also claiming the Golden Boot and Golden Ball of the tournament.

Among the other high profile awards, Matthijs de Ligt was awarded the 2019 Kopa Trophy winner. The award is given to the best under-21 player in the world and can be won only once in the career. The award was handed over to the young Juventus defender by former winner of the award and a young sensation himself Kylian Mbappe.