Twitter was flooded with numerous frustrated comments on Monday as football fans processed the outcome of the 65th annual Ballon d'Or football award.
The nominee most expected to win the award was Robert Lewandowski, forward of Bayern Munich and Poland’s national team. Fans were outraged with the outcome of the “rigged” ceremony, as Lewandowski, who has managed to score the most goals in all competitions in the top five leagues in Europe over the past three years, was widely considered to be the most deserving of the “golden ball.”
Nevertheless, the 2021 Ballon d'Or takes into account a player's achievements over the course of the year. The Polish footballer was Europe's top scorer in the 2020/21 season, scoring 41 goals in 29 Bundesliga games and breaking Gerd Müller's 49-year-old record.
Apart from that, Lewandowski also had the most goals in the top European division in calendar year 2021. In general, he has scored a record-breaking number of goals during this season and no one has scored more for their club and national team this year.
In 2021, Messi won the America's Cup with the Argentina national team. Last season, he played 50 matches and scored 40 goals.
Users lamented the outcome of the ceremony, saying that Messi's performance was great, but the winner should be Lewandowski.
The lion’s share of sincere condolences targeted the legendary forward for Manchester United and the Portuguese national team, Cristiano Ronaldo, who didn't even make the top 5 for this year's Ballon d'Or, finishing 6th place in the voting. For the first time since 2010, the forward wasn't among the top 3 players in the world.
Ronaldo also didn’t attend the ceremony, apparently out of anger at Pascal Ferre, the editor in chief of France Football, who reportedly lied by saying that Ronaldo’s “only ambition was to finish his career with more Golden Balls than Lionel Messi.”