Let's talk about 6 baby!!!

Lionel Messi's journey to 6 Ballon d'Ors and 6 Golden Boots

The Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball" in French) is an annual football award presented by France Football. On 2 December 2019 Lionel Messi won his 6th Ballon'dOr at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. This made him the player with most Ballon d'Or in the history of football after Cristiano Ronaldo had equaled his tally back in 2017 after which Luka Modric ended a decade long dominance of the two maestros of world football in 2018 for his excellent form in the FIFA World Cup 2018 and winning the Champions League with Real Madrid. Also earlier this year Lionel Messi picked up his 6th European Golden Shoe for scoring 36 goals in 34 La Liga games making him the top scorer in the top division of every European league. 

After Liverpool staged a sensational comeback at the Anfield to beat Barcelona by 4-0 (4-3 aggregate) in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final (subsequently winning the Champions League) Messi and his teammates where left devasted. This award comes as an encouragement for Messi to give another spirited effort to reclaim the coveted trophy this season. Messi looked pumped up against Atletico scoring a late winner at Wanda Metropolitano just a day before the Ballon d'Or ceremony.

     

Let's have look at Messi's Journey to these 6 Golden Shoes and  6 Ballon d'Ors 

2008-09

After being nominated for the prestigious FIFA Ballon d'Or for two consecutive years(2007 and 2008 finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively) Messi finally claimed it in 2009. This was his first uninterrupted

season. The 2008-09 season started with the arrival of Pep Guardiola as the new manager of Barcelona. He scored 38 goals in 51 appearances on the course of Barcelona achieving a historic first ever treble of Spanish Football.

2009-10

 

Messi's rise continued in the next season as well with many legends recognizing him as the best player in the world and some were even sure that he will be the greatest footballer of all time. 
Barcelona won their second consecutive La Liga under Pep and the magical trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets with Messi as false nine or as right-winger. Messi scored 53 goals in 57 appearances that season with 34 of those coming in La Liga thus helping him win the Golden Boot along with the Ballon d'Or. Xavi and Iniesta finished 3rd and 2nd respectively in the Ballon d'Or rankings.

2010-11

Messi continued his Ballon d'Or streak in this season as well as he scored 53 goals in 55 appearances across all competitions for Barcelona. Barcelona won the La Liga and the Champions League this season and reached the Copa del Rey final. Messi contributed 31 goals in La Liga (33 AAPS) and 12 goals (13 APPS)  in the Champions League.

2011-12 

Messi looked unstoppable in the 2011-12 season breaking goalscoring records as he scored 50 goals in La Liga in just 37 appearances and 14 Champions League goals in 11 appearances. In total, he scored 73 goals in 60 appearances for Barcelona across all competitions. Messi set the world record for goals in a single calendar year, with a grand total of 91, beating the previous all-time best set in 1972 by Germany and Bayern’s Gert Müller, who got 85. The Argentinian got 79 goals for Barça and another 12 for his national team in 2012. Despite Messi's individual efforts Barcelona only managed to win the Copa del Rey. Nevertheless, it couldn't stop Messi from winning the Ballon d'Or for the fourth consecutive time.   

2012-13

Though Messi's four year Ballon d'Or streak came to an end in 2013 he did win the European Golden Shoe after scoring a staggering 60 goals in 50 appearances across all competitions with 46 of those coming from just 32 appearances in La Liga. 

2014-15

After missing out on both the awards in the 2013-14 season, Messi was back to make it a five in 2014-15 with the iconic trio of Messi-Suarez-Neymar(MSG) setting the world football on fire under the newly appointed coach Luis Enrique. The strike force broke many goal scoring records as Barcelona won their second treble (making them the first European team to do so) with Messi picking up his fifth Ballon d'Or for his outstanding performance throughout the season(58 goals in 57 appearances).

2016-17

Barcelona struggled to win Champions League and La Liga that season. Tough, they did manage to win the Copa del Rey. Barcafailed to break the deadlock against Juventus in the Quarter Finals of the Champions and lost the league by a narrow margin of 3 points in spite of Messi scoring 37 goals in the 34 matches that he appeared for. Thanks to his goalscoring exploits in La Liga he did win his 4th European Golden boot.

2017-18

Messi scored 45 goals in 54 appearances across all competitions for Barcelona in 2017-18 season. He netted 34 goals and 4 goals respectively on road to victory in Laliga and Copa del Rey. He won his record 5th golden boot making him the first ever player in the history to do so.   

2018-19

Messi continued his goalscoring exploits in this season as well.  After a promising start to their season, Barcelona messed up in the crucial matches of their campaign as they lost to Liverpool in the second leg by a score of 4-0 away at Anfield wasting the 3-0 lead they achieved back at home in Camp Nou. Barcelona also lost the Copa del Rey to Valencia. Barcelona dominated the La Liga throughout the season winning it by a margin of 11 points. These failures didn't stop Messi from winning the Golden Boot and the Ballon d'Or both for a record 6th time. Messi was a beast throughout the season netting 51 goals on 50 appearances across all competitions, 36 of these goals were scored in La Liga in 34  appearances thus making him the heir of the Golden shoe.  

Messi presented his 6th Ballon d'Or at Camp Nou before the match against RCD Mallorca. He scored a Hattrick against the team sending a strong message to the world that he isn't over yet and will be in the race for these prestigious awards for a few more years to come. At 32 years of age, this guy is still ruling the world of football!!!

An adorable family photo of  Messi with his 6th Ballon d'Or