MESSI IN MAJOR BALLON D’OR BOOST

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has boosted his chances of winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or Award after his two-goal performance at the Copa America tournament earlier this week. Messi scored twice in the first half as Argentina thrashed lowly Bolivia 4-1 to seal top spot in Group A. The Argentina national team skipper also provided an assist during the game against the Bolivians.

Argentina took the lead inside the first six minutes after Alejandro Gomez found the back of the net off the assist from Messi. The Barcelona talisman added a second goal from the penalty spot on 33 minutes before he added his brace nine minutes later to take the game beyond the reach of the Bolivians.




RONALDO IN HUGE BALLON D'OR BOOST

Cristiano Ronaldo have boosted his chances of winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or this year following his two-goal performance against Hungary on Tuesday. The Juventus attacker scored two late goals to propel European champions Portugal to a 3-0 win overhosts Hungary in their first game in Group F as they bid to retain the title they won in France five years ago.

Portugal became European champions in 2016 after beating hosts France in the final of the European Championships thanks to the goal from striker Eder in extra time. The goal from the former Swansea City attacker gave the Portuguese team a 1-0 win over France and their first major trophy at senior football level in the process.




MBAPPE ENHANCE BALLON D'OR CHANCE

Paris Saint Germain (PSG) talisman KylianMbappe enhanced his FIFA Ballon d'Or Award bid with two goals as he helped his team to secure a place in the French Cup final at the expense of Montpellier on his return from injury.

Mbappe picked up a calf injury in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final tie between PSG and Manchester City at the Parc des Princes at the end of last month and that forced him to miss three games in all competitions though he was on the bench for the second leg clash with the aforementioned English opposition at the Etihad Stadium last week Tuesday.

The French World Cup winner missed the games against Lens at home in the league, the away game at Manchester City in the Champions League as mentioned above and the away game at Rennes in the league.




MESSI EXTENDS GOLDEN BOOT LEAD

Barcelona skipper Lionel Messi has extended his lead in the race to win the Pichichi Award this season in the Spanish La Liga after he scored the lone goal for his team in the disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Granada on Thursday night.

The Pichichi Award is given to the player with the most goals in the Spanish La Liga and Messi is the favourites to win the award again this season ahead of other challengers like Karim Benzema of Real Madrid, Villarreal forward Gerard Moreno and Atletico Madrid attacker Luis Suarez.




PLAYER vs PLAYER: NEYMAR vs KAKA

It's a well-known tradition that Brazil is home to raw football talents and that has been proven to be true in the past decades, with a host of talented players coming from the South American country.

The likes of Pele, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Fenomeno, Robinho, Adriano, and others have burst onto the scene in the last decades and made a name for themselves on the global scene, and even though not all of them lived up to their exact potentials, most of them became well-known stars.




MBAPPE IMPROVES BALLON D'OR CHANCE

Paris Saint Germain (PSG) attacker KylianMbappe improved his chances of winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or Award at the end of this year after his brace propelled his French team to an impressive 3-2 away win over Champions League holders Bayern Munich in the first leg of their quarterfinal tie.

Mbappe scored twice either side of the interval to take his Champions League goal tally to eight goals in eight games at an average of a goal per game.

French international Mbappe gave PSG the lead against a Bayern team missing their talisman Robert Lewandowski due to a knee injury. Mbappeshot his team into the lead on three minutes after his strike squirmed under the body of Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer when the German shot stopper could have done better.




IS MBAPPE THE NEXT RONALDO?

Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé is already widely regarded as a world star and has captured the hearts of many with his remarkable talent and attitude on the pitch. The young attacker is gifted in a lot of ways and has also attracted some comparisons between him and Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Mbappé joined PSG from League rivals AS Monaco over two years ago and has since gone on to establish himself as a superb talent and also a likely future Ballon d'Or winner.

In his young career, Mbappé played a huge part as he helped his nation France defeat Croatia at the World Cup final back in 2018 to clinch football's most prestigious trophy.




MESSI BOOSTS BALLON D'OR HOPES

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi did his chances of winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or at the end of the year a whole lot of good with his performance against hosts Real Sociedad in their league clash on Sunday night.

Messi was the star of the show as Barcelona thrashed their hosts 6-1 to move within four points of Atletico Madrid in the keenly contested race for the Spanish La Liga. Messi scored two goals and also had a hand in virtually all the goals in what was an allround display for the Argentina national team skipper.




BALLON D'OR: RONALDO CHANCES DIMINISH

Juventus attacker Cristiano Ronaldo didn't do his chances of winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or Award for this year much good after he failed to prevent his team from an early exit in the Champions League.

Cristiano Ronaldo was largely ineffective as Juventus crashed out of the Champions League at the round of 16 and he would have almost hurt his chances of winning the 2021 FIFA Ballon d'Or Award as a result. Ronaldo and Juventus paid dearly for a feeble performance in the first leg against FC Porto.




LEWANDOWSKI BOOSTS BALLON D'OR HOPES

Bayern Munich talisman Robert Lewandowski didn't do his FIFA Ballon d'Or Award chances any harm at all after he scored one of the goals in the 4-1 thumping of hosts Lazio in the Champions League knockout stage.

Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA Ballon d'Or Award for last year ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and he's the favourite to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or Award for this year. The Polish international player scored the opener after nine minutes to set Bayern Munich on their way to a big victory at the home of Lazio in Rome, Italy.




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