Monday night in Paris, following his heroics at FIFA Men’s World Cup last year in November/December 2022, Lionel Messi was voted Best FIFA Men’s Player Award 2022. Argentinian star has won this award for a record sixth time now alongside seven Ballon’dors as for prominent individual awards. Paris Saint-Germain star won this award ahead of fellow team member Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema who both themselves had an amazing year all around last year.
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Mbappe with 42 goals (28 – Ligue1, 8 – World Cup, 6 – UEFA Champions League) scored last year and a stellar hattrick in FIFA World Cup Final, still fell short of being voted ahead of Lionel Messi for The Best Award. Karim Benzema with 42 goals (27 – LaLiga, 15 UEFA Champions League) was also very prominent in his performance in UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid last year which helped his club be crowned champion for the record 14th time. Despite such exploits both Frenchmen fell short to Argentinian and his major role in winning his country their third World Title.
In numbers, Lionel Messi scored only 18 goals (7 – World Cup, 6 – Ligue1, 5 UEFA Champions League) but his deciding role and performance in World Cup sets him up to win his sixth The Best Award last night. Not only him, Emiliano Martinez from Aston Villa bagged his ever Best Keeper Award, Lionel Scaloni won The Best Coach Award for the year, and Argentinian fans were declared The Best Fans in the ceremony last night.
