Messi and Rapinoe expected to take Ballon d’Or honours
PARIS: The biggest names in world football will descend on Paris on Monday for the 2019 Ballon d’Or ceremony, with Lionel Messi and USA women’s World Cup superstar Megan Rapinoe tipped to leave with the honours.
It would be an enormous shock if Rapinoe did not depart the Chatelet Theatre with the women’s prize as she returns to the country where she was the driving force on and off the field for the United States as they retained their title.
The suspense surrounds the identity of the men’s winner, 12 months after Croatia’s Luka Modric claimed the crown thanks to his exploits in dragging his country to the World Cup final and winning the Champions
League with Real Madrid.
That ended a decade in which Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had won the Ballon d’Or five times each, but the smart money now is on the Barcelona man claiming number six.
There are 30 nominees in total for the prize, organised by France Football magazine and voted for by 180 journalists from around the world.
The value of individual honours in football is debatable, and the timing unsatisfactory, coming midway through the European club season.
Yet surely nobody could suggest Rapinoe would not be a deserving winner of just the second women’s Ballon d’Or, an award voted for by a panel of 48 journalists.
Norway’s Ada Hegerberg won it in 2018 but will not retain her title after missing the World Cup.
Among the stars of that tournament to be nominated are England’s Lucy Bronze, Netherlands striker Vivianne Miedema, Australia’s Sam Kerr and the USA trio of Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle and Tobin Heath.
However Rapinoe should add this honour to those of Golden Boot Golden Ball at the World Cup.