Messi and the least awaited award: L’Equipe chose him as the best athlete of the year over Mbappé

Lionel Messi he beat again kylian mbappe. And this time, as a visitor. The prestigious French sports newspaper The Team awarded Rosario with the trophy “Champion of Champions”with which it rewards the best athlete of each year.

The result comes from the vote of the newspaper’s journalists and La Pulga surpassed Mbappé, Rafael Nadal, the cyclist Remco Evenepoel and the Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, among the top five with the most votes.

Messi was left with 808 points and doubled his PSG teammate who finished on 381 points. Yes, a huge difference.

It must be remembered that L’Equipe was highly critical of Messi’s performance in his first season at Paris Saint-Germain. In fact, he has conceded some postponements in matches where his team stumbled in their quest to win the Champions League.

The “Champion of Champions” prize has been awarded to the French since 1946 and in 1976 it was opened to athletes from the rest of the world. The first Argentine to win it was Diego Armando Maradona in 1986, after his brilliant performance at the World Cup in Mexico.

Messi had already won it in 2011, when he won all the titles with Barcelona: Club World Cup, Champions League, European Super Cup, Spanish Championship and Spanish Super Cup, as well as being top scorer in the Champions League. League and get the Ballon d’Or.

Leo did not play in Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-1 French Cup win against Châteauroux this Friday. Not even Mbappé and Neymar. Goals were scored by Frenchman Hugo Ekitike and Spaniards Carlos Soler and Juan Bernat.

Messi will certainly wear the PSG shirt again next week, in the Ligue 1 match against Angers. “Leo trained on Wednesday and Thursday. He won’t play on Friday. We’re making sure he’s ready for the next game. We’ll take stock, I’ll be very careful what he tells me, but we want him to be available for the next game.” he said. Christophe Galtier at the press conference before the presentation for the French Cup.

The great figure of the Argentine national team returned last Tuesday to the French capital from Rosario, where he had taken a few days off after his team’s victory at the World Cup in Qatar.

On Wednesday he returned to training with PSG and was greeted by the applause of his teammates: “It was important for him that his teammates and all the employees of the sports center celebrated at home. He was happy and enthusiastic about this celebration”. underlined.

There hasn’t been a face-to-face meeting with Mbappé yet, who, despite having resumed training only three days after the big match, then took a vacation and is in the United States. His partner went to the other great protagonist of the World Cup final between France and Argentina with his three goals that weren’t enough to nullify the fairy tale that was experienced at the Lusail stadium.