The award was not held for 2 years – in 2020, the ceremony was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. France Football presented the list of nominees on October 8 – 30 players were nominated for the French edition’s award.
The circle of the main contenders for the Golden Ball -2021 includes 2 names – Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski. The Argentinian is the favorite in the fight for the prize according to several versions: Leo topped the rating of contenders for the Ballon d’Or according to the website Goal.com.
Also, the forward won the viewer poll of the Spanish portal Marca – 34 percent of respondents voted for Messi. The Polish forward of Bayern Munich came second in both ratings. Messi made up for the controversial club season with a long-awaited victory in the America’s Cup against Argentina. Leo also won the Spanish Cup with Barcelona and became the top scorer in La Liga 2020/21.
Unique statistics speaks for Lewandowski: the Polish forward is the only one who scored more than 50 goals in 2021. Robert rewrote Gerd Müller’s seemingly eternal record for goals scored in the Bundesliga in one season, won the German championship, the German Super Cup and the club world championship. He was considered the main favorite of Ballon d`Or -2020, but the cancellation of the award deprived him of the coveted award. Therefore, many hope that after a year, justice will prevail.
Source: eurosport.com