With that, he left his competitors far behind, considering that in second place, with five such recognitions, Cristiano Ronaldo remained, followed by Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten with three each. Most likely, this is the last Ballon d’Or for the 36-year-old wizard who left elite football this summer and went to MLS, in the Inter Miami team. Obviously, a key segment for this Ballon d’Or was winning the World Cup title in Qatar last December. Messi scored eight goals on it and led the Argentine national team to the third planetary title in history, and the first since 1986. With that, the former Barcelona and PSG player completed all the important trophies in the world of football.