Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema has won the 2022 Player of the Year Ballon d’Or award in Paris on Monday night.
This would be the forward’s first Ballon d’Or of his career. The 34-year-old had never finished inside the top three in previous years, but he finished today ahead of Kevin De Bruyne, Sadio Mane and Robert Lewandoski.
The award was presented by former Real Madrid’s coach Zinedine Zidane at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France.
The striker begins to offer words of thanks and cites Zizou and Ronaldo as inspirations.
Benzema was the top scorer in Spain’s La Liga and the UEFA Champions League in the 2021/22 season, as Real Madrid won both competitions.
A total of 12 of the last 13 winners have been named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Croatian midfielder Luka Modric, interrupted the hegemony in 2018.
This year Messi did not make the cut for the finalists, though Ronaldo did. Messi has won it a record seven times, while Ronaldo has claimed five.
Real Madrid on their official English Twitter handle @realmadriden, tweeted, “It had to be @Benzema #ballondor 2022.”
Robert Lewandowski,
Other winners of the night are Poland’s goal machine, Robert Lewandowski, who received the award for last season’s top goalscorer, renamed the Gerd Mueller Trophy, for the second straight year at the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
The 34-year-old, who joined Barcelona from Bayern Munich in the close season, scored 57 goals in 56 matches for the club and country last term.
He was the top-scorer in the Bundesliga with 35 goals.
Lewandowski also won the award last year when it was presented for the first time, after breaking the Bundesliga scoring record for a single season, previously held by Mueller, with 41 goals.
Alexia Putellas
Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or for the second year running on Monday, the reward coming after a season in which she was the top scorer as her club Barcelona reached the Champions League final.
The 28-year-old Putellas saw off stiff competition, notably from three stars of the England team that won the European Championship, to take the award following a campaign that also saw Barcelona win a domestic league and cup double.
The prize, awarded at a star-studded ceremony at the Chatelet Theatre in central Paris, is a consolation for Putellas who is currently recovering from a serious knee injury.
The injury saw her miss the Euro in England in July and means she is unlikely to play at all this season.
“It makes me even more annoyed to be injured, but I am very happy to be here,” Putellas said.
“To retain the trophy is much harder. When I injured my knee I thought my chances of winning it had gone but in the end the jury based their decision on the whole of last season, of which I only missed one month.”
Putellas scored 11 goals in the Champions League last season as holders Barcelona reached the final but lost to Lyon.
It is just the fourth time that a women’s Ballon d’Or has been awarded, with Norway’s Ada Hegerberg winning the inaugural prize in 2018 before United States superstar Megan Rapinoe succeeded her in 2019.
There was no Ballon d’Or gala in 2020 due to the pandemic before Putellas won it for the first time last year after helping Barca to Women’s Champions League glory for the first time in their history.
Putellas also won the UEFA player of the year prize in August.
Pablo Martin Paez Gavira
Barcelona and Spain midfield prospect Gavi won the Kopa Trophy for the best player of last season aged under 21 at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris on Monday.
The 18-year-old, whose full name is Pablo Martin Paez Gavira, succeeds his Barcelona teammate Pedri, who won the prize last year.
Kylian Mbappe and Matthijs de Ligt are also former winners of the award which is named after former Real Madrid and France star Raymond Kopa.
Gavi, who has already won 12 caps for Spain, was picked by a jury made up of former winners of the Ballon d’Or itself.
Last month he signed a new deal at Barcelona tying him to the club until 2026 and with a release clause of one billion euros.
Meanwhile Senegal and Bayern Munich star Sadio Mane was rewarded for his off-field work by receiving the first Socrates prize from the organisers of France Football.
The prize is named after the late former Brazil midfielder, who also held a medical degree.
The prize is meant to identify the “best social initiative by committed champions” and in Mane’s case recognises the work he has done for communities in his home country.
AFP
