“Part of Messi remained in Barcelona”: L’Equipe’s arguments to exclude Leo from the Ballon d’Or

As written Clarione after the news was learned, the absence of the Argentine star Leone Messi among the 30 candidates to win the Golden Ball It is, at the very least, great nonsense. But based on the criticism generated around that decision, the French newspaper L’Equiperesponsible for one of the most important awards in football, this Sunday he expressed his arguments and talked about it a change in electoral policy.

The French media wrote that, in this edition, the 2021/22 season is taken into consideration and not the calendar year, in addition to the fact that the list was drawn up by the editorial staff of French football Y L’Equipeto which is added the Ivorian Didier Drogbaambassador of the Ballon d’Or, and the voters of the previous edition closest to guessing the final result: the Vietnamese journalist Truong Anh Ngocthe New Zealander Gordon Watson and the Czech Karolina Hlavackova.

In addition, L’Equipe has reduced the number of countries with voting rights. It used to be 170 and now the French media have wondered if the countries “The fact that they do not have a great natural football culture or historical legitimacy and not always easy access to the images of the competitions could weaken the jury”. So now they will be “Only the representatives of the top hundred countries in the FIFA ranking (and fifty for women) are authorized to vote”.

And, then, he went directly to the football reasons for the absence of the 35-year-old from Rosario. He argued that the first year at Paris Saint Germain was not good and that the tension with the then coach Mauricio Pochettino resulted in a season marked “by disappointment”.

Only six goals in Liga 1 and elimination in the second round Champions League at the hands of real Madrid they provoked criticism of their performance which, according to the media, it generates “unpleasant impression that part of Leo would remain in Barcelona, ​​his pace, his determination … ”.

“A sacrilege? An event, anyway”L’Équipe reported of the striker’s absence for the first time since 2005, so he will not be able to claim his eighth prize at the ceremony to be held on 17 October.

And why so Cristiano Ronaldo? The Portuguese have become National all-time top scorerscored six goals in the Champions League group stage to qualify Man Utd to the second round and closes the season with the statistics of 32 goals in 49 games in all competitions.