Alexia Putellas and Lionel Messi have been topped winners of the 2021 Ballon d’Or throughout a glittering ceremony in Paris.
Putellas, who was an integral a part of Barcelona’s treble-winning facet with 18 objectives and 12 assists within the Primera División, scored within the 4-0 Champions League remaining victory in opposition to the WSL champions Chelsea and was named within the event’s squad of the season.
The midfielder has already been named Uefa’s Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months for her stellar performances and she or he has adopted up final season with a powerful opening to this marketing campaign, together with a four-minute hat-trick in opposition to Valencia.
Putellas edged out her Barcelona teammate Jennifer Hermoso, Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Arsenal’s free-scoring striker Vivianne Miedema to carry the trophy. The Chelsea trio of Pernille Tougher, Jessie Fleming and Fran Kirby have been seventh, ninth and tenth respectively.
The 27-year-old follows within the footsteps of Ada Hegerberg and Megan Rapinoe, who gained the award in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Putellas stated: “I’m very emotional, it’s a really particular second. I wish to begin by thanking all my teammates, particularly my present [Barcelona] teammates. For me it’s a collective success.”
Messi gained a seventh Ballon d’Or title, beating Robert Lewandowski to the award. The Bayern Munich striker completed second after being a heavy favorite to win final 12 months’s award just for the ceremony to be cancelled due to Covid-19.
Messi claimed his seventh title – transferring two forward of Cristiano Ronaldo within the course of – and his first as a Paris Saint-Germain participant following his summer time transfer from Barcelona. The 34-year-old gained a maiden Copa America title with Argentina this 12 months and was additionally high scorer in La Liga earlier than his emotional departure.
Chelsea’s Jorginho completed third after a standout 12 months during which he helped Italy to realize glory on the delayed Euro 2020 after lifting the Champions League trophy in Could. Chelsea have been named the workforce of the 12 months following their memorable 1-0 victory in opposition to Manchester Metropolis in Porto.
Amongst these within the high 10, Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante was fifth on the Ballon d’Or checklist, Manchester United’s Ronaldo sixth, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah seventh and Manchester Metropolis’s Kevin De Bruyne eighth.
Barcelona’s teenage midfielder Pedri, who not too long ago agreed a long-term contract extension which features a €1bn (£846m) launch clause, was named the winner of the Kopa Trophy – the very best under-21 participant of 2021. The 19-year-old was introduced with the award by the previous Ballon d’Or and World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro. England’s Jude Bellingham simply missed out on the Kopa award after a powerful season with Borussia Dortmund.
Gianluigi Donnarumma claimed the Yashin Trophy after the Italy keeper was named participant of the event at Euro 2020.