The most curious votes of the Ballon d’Or that Lionel Messi won with a ‘punishment’ for Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal

A few days after Lionel Messi’s victory at the Ballon d’Or gala, France Football magazine, organizer of the event, provided details of the votes made for the 2021 edition. It is very clear that the Argentine was far superior to Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho , second and third in preferences, respectively.

However, like any election, the end result always leaves something for debate and, of course, some striking detail. Precisely, on the last mentioned, there is a lot of cloth to cut and in social networks, users highlighted the most curious votes made by the 180 journalists nominated for this task.

Leo Messi, who swept Asia and the American continent, ranked first 57 times, although he was not included in the top five in countries such as Eritrea, Gambia, Hungary and Moldova, which did place ‘Tito’ Lewandowski as leader.

Conversely, the Argentine crack was preferred in Bolivia, Belize, Greece, Grenada, Kazakhstan, San Cristóbal and Nives, Sudan and Turkmenistan. These nations forgot the gunner who wears the colors of Bayern Munich, who was first 47 times for his favoritism in Europe and Africa.

In Argentina, obviously, Messi was at the top of the list, but they removed Lewandowski, who did not obtain any score in that country. Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suárez and Pedri were the other elections.

Continuing in South America, in Brazil, the PSG man did not appear in any of the five alternatives and Kevin De Bruyne was the first on the list. The Belgian was accompanied by Jorginho, Kylian Mbappé, Romelu Lukaku and Neymar.

Cristiano Ronaldo punished

In Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo (who finished sixth in the overall count) was not voted in the top 5. The Manchester United star’s compatriot chose N’Golo Kanté as the first choice, followed by Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappé, Jorginho and Mohamed Salah. Without a doubt, a harsh punishment for the Portuguese.

Of the other favorites to win the Ballon d’Or, Benzema was chosen first in Oman, Azerbaijan, Comoros and Spain. While Salah only appeared in the main box in Iraq, Palestine and Yemen.