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What’s the story?
The Ballon d'Or ceremony is set to be held on December 7th, but the winner has been 'leaked' already! As per a photo of the France Football magazine cover going viral on social media, Lionel Messi is set to be the winner once again!
Trending
The tweet shows Messi's face on the cover of the football magazine, which is said to be the December edition of it. The leaked image has sent shockwaves across the football world as everyone was expecting Cristiano Ronaldo to come out victorious.
UPDATE: It has been brought to our notice that this is a prank played out by Facebook fan page.
In case you didn’t know...
Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the UEFA Best Player of the Year award and also the BEST FIFA Men's player award for his achievements this year. He was thus tipped to win the Ballon d'Or for the fifth time and get on level terms with Messi next month.
The heart of the matter
While some fans have been urging France Football to make the wise decision of handing Messi the trophy based on his individual performances, others have been arguing about the trophies won by them over the past one year.
However, the authenticity of the leaked image is also under question. Some feel that the magazine cover is legit and will go on sale on December 8th – the day after the ceremony. Meanwhile, some feel that it is photoshopped.
What’s next?
We'll have to wait until December 7th to see if this was actually real or not. If Messi does win it, in the end, Ronaldo fans and many of the neutrals will be crying foul as the Portuguese international achieved more in the last one year than the Argentine.
Author’s Take
It's difficult to actually argue why Messi did or did not deserve. But my mind is easily a 60:40 in favour of Ronaldo winning it as he was influential in Real Madrid winning the Champions League and La Liga.
