Lionel Messi got his seventh “Golden Ball” in the Ballon D’Or ceremony on Monday night in Paris. There were only outside chances or Robert Lewandowski or maybe Jorginho upsetting the Argentine – but it didn’t happen. Editors at French weekly France Football assembled a 30-player shortlist of award nominees before a 170-strong jury award 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points to the players that impressed them most over the past year.Water is wet, the world is round and Lionel Messi wins Ballon D’Or – that’s number seven for the ArgentineAnd out of all those players, and all 7,720 total points awarded by 170 sports journalists – only two players received no points: 2020/21 Champions League-winning captain Cesar Azpilicueta and 2018 Ballon D’Or winner Luka Modric. That’s a bit odd considering that Luis Suarez got 8, Leonardo Bonucci had 18, Raheem Sterling a nice round 10 and even Nicolo Barella and Ruben Dias got a point each. That’s a point more than Spaniard Azpilicueta and Croat Modric.It was Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric who ended Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s decade-long duopoly to win the best male footballer of the year in 2018. Former Brazil and AC Milan forward Kaka, who won the award in 2007, was the last player other than Messi or Ronaldo to win it. In 2018, Modric, won his third successive Champions League with Real Madrid, before helping Croatia to a first World Cup final. And although he was not quite as successful last year, you’d think that he’d get at least a vote or two.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖: 𝐋𝐮𝐤𝐚 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐜After 10 years of Messi-Ronaldo dominance, Luka Modric broke the cycle.He won a third straight Champions League with Real Madrid and the World Cup Golden Ball as Croatia reached the 2018 final ✨(via @FIFAWorldCup)pic.twitter.com/e58cCQqcZD— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 29, 2021 Oh well, such is life, we suppose. On the top of the list, Messi got 613 points and beat Lewandowski to the title by just 33 points. The 34-year-old Messi led Argentina to the Copa America title in July after losing in four major international finals.Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho was third with 460 points after helping the London club win the Champions League and his nation win the European Championship. Real Madrid and France forward Karim Benzema was fourth on 239.Here are the final results of the 2021 Ballon D’Or vote:
