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Fans have rallied in support of Lionel Messi's Argentina teammate Lautaro Martinez to win the 2024 Ballon d'Or. Supporters have backed the Inter Milan striker to receive the award for his exploits last season.
Martinez was in excellent form for Inter Milan last term, playing a crucial role in their Serie A and Supercoppa Italiana triumphs. The Argentine forward made 44 appearances in all competitions, scoring 27 goals and providing seven assists.
Martinez won the Serie A Golden Boot and scored the winning goal in Inter's 1-0 win over Napoli in the Supercoppa Italiana final. The 26-year-old went on to shine at the Copa America alongside Lionel Messi with Argentina as well.
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Martinez scored five goals and won the Copa America Golden Boot. Although talisman Lionel Messi was substituted due to an ankle injury in the final against Colombia, Martinez stepped up and found the match-winner.
Fans believe Martinez deserves to win the Ballon d'Or this year after a fantastic season with both Inter Milan and the Argentina national team.
"Give it to him," wrote another fan.
Here are the rest of their reactions:
"He'd deserve it, but Papa Perez will probably buy it for one of his boys," one fan claimed.
"He saved Argentina in the recent copa America final.... And tbh he's Deserving or Carvajal," wrote another.
"Deserves it more than Vini," commented one supporter.
Gabriel Marcotti labels Ballon d'Or a 'popularity contest' after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's dominance
The Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual award a footballer can receive during their career. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have broken records and raised the ceiling with their dominance over the years.
Between 2008 and 2017, the superstar duo ruled the award ceremonies, allowing no room for anyone else to win it. Messi has won a record eight Ballon d'Or awards during his career, while Ronaldo has received five.
Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, and Rodri have been touted as the frontrunners to snatch the Ballon d'Or this year, although there seems to be no clear favorite.
ESPN pundit Gabriel Marcotti has labeled the award a popularity contest and believes the process to pick the winner has become flawed after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's supremacy.
Marcotti said:
"This is so stupid the way we all get bent over backwards on this popularity contest. If [only] people knew the voting mechanism, if they know the people that vote on this and how some of them really don’t watch much football at all."
"And we’re sitting here guessing, it’s like the academy awards, ‘should win’, ‘will win’. I really couldn’t care less. If I had a vote, and I don’t, I’d probably give it to Rodri or [Toni] Kroos."
"For all these years with Cristiano and Messi, you really couldn’t screw this up because if it’s not one guy then it’s the other. Now that they’re gone and everybody is flawed [it’s strange]."
