Lionel Messi Names Players That Will Dominate Future Ballon d’Or

The most successful player in the world in terms of Ballon d’Or victories, Lionel Messi, has named four players who could dominate the award in the future.

Recall that on Monday night, October 30, Lionel Messi won the award for the record-extending 8th time, three times more than his arch-career rival, Cristiano Ronaldo.

The fact that Lionel Messi led Argentina to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December, made it almost impossible for him not to win the award.

Aside from winning the World Cup, he also scored 20 goals and provided 20 assists which helped PSG to win the French Ligue 1 and the French Super Cup last season.

Those achievements helped him to edge out Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland who won the treble with Manchester City – UEFA Champions League, Premier League, and the FA Cup last season.

After winning his 8th Ballon d’Or and arguably the last of his career, the 36-year-old Argentine football icon mentioned Haaland of Manchester City, Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint Germain, Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid, and Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona as players who could dominate the award in the future.

“Haaland, Mbappe, Vinicius, and many young players can compete for Ballon d’Or in the next years”, Lionel Messi said as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.

“I also think that Lamine Yamal, who is still very young and plays for Barcelona, ​​will play a prominent role and fight for it in the future too.”

All the aforementioned players are below the age of 25 which was the same age bracket Messi and Ronaldo started dominating the Ballon d’Or after Brazilian football legend Kaka won it in 2006.

In the case of Messi, the Argentine football icon had won the Ballon d’Or four straight times before he clocked 25-year-old, a feat only 16-year-old Lamine Yamal still has a chance of matching (due to his current age) among the four players Messi anointed to dominate the award.