Mbappé, Messi, Benzema…? Tomorrow afternoon, one of those names will be at the head of the golden tent of world football. The Best award is a correlate of the Ballon d’Or. This has a lower official value than FIFA’s because the protagonists of the game do not participate, only journalists, although much more repercussion because of its name, brilliant, by the way. The Ballon d’Or is a goal in every sense of the word.

The three of them had a great year and whoever gets it will be perfect: Benzema was the champion of Spain and Europe, a scorer and a super character in the Champions League, he scored goals and showered all fields with quality. Karim is not just a Lewandowski or Cristiano Ronaldo type 9 out of the box, he is a class 9, a 9 player, with the right answer for every puzzle the game throws at him.

Excellent counter puncher, dresses well, handsome without a problem, winner without a problem. He has never been characterized as a scorer, but he has 444 goals. As anyone goes by, he scored 444 goals. And he could have had a hundred more if he hadn’t judged for nine years as Cristiano Ronaldo’s squire, since the footballer is more technically gifted than the Portuguese. Undoubtedly, a product of his meek and withdrawn character. There are simple statistics: in Cristiano’s last four seasons in Madrid, Benzema scored 81 goals; in the first four without it, he scored 131. His achievements are never talked about, but he won 33 titles.

He has a very low profile for the huge player that he is. He could have been a world finalist if Didier Deschamps had accepted him in the French team. But he had a loop with him.

Mbappé is surely the most powerful player in history. Atom bomb. He doesn’t have Benzema’s technique, his finesse with the ball, he is a tsunami with a goal, with fierce ambition, he is not in the making, he waits for an intercepted pass and moves in the third or falls on everyone in front of him. him. His shot has improved a lot, especially from the right side, he has much better accuracy, and he has also adjusted his definition, he makes better decisions. Passing is still difficult for him, it’s really interesting that a phenomenon of his size fails so much in the transfer, but he does everything with such speed, with such momentum that he loses honesty in this regard. Be careful, because of this he loses a lot of combinations with Neymar or Messi. It is very difficult to cancel, and Englishman Kyle Walker managed it best, in the World Cup. Walker is another physical machine, but he also anticipated and took away his room to maneuver. Kylian has an exclusive quality, or very few: when he comes into contact with the ball, he strikes fear into the opposition, his players and the fans. He will be the star protagonist in the coming years, in which Messi will lose his luster. During the period in which candidates for the award are evaluated – August 8, 2021 and December 18, 2022 – Kylian was the French champion and the world runner-up, and the top scorer of the World Cup with 8 goals.

Messi was also crowned in France with PSG and was world champion with Argentina, he was also a star in Qatar 2022. And he scored only slightly less than Mbappé, but on the other hand he led in assists. He played and made them play, he was the captain who woke up the team with that great goal against Mexico, and then he had unforgettable games against Australia, the Netherlands, Croatia and France. He has an advantage over all other footballers in the world by playing games that others cannot. Such as the assist to Nahuel Molina for the goal against the Netherlands or the monumental action for the third goal against Croatia, when he walked twenty-year-old Joško Guardiola, until then considered the best defender of the tournament, at thirty meters. Leo raised the bar from 30 to 35. No one at that age has reached such a level of excellence. “Maradona was already a former player at 35,” said Colorado’s Carlos MacAllister. Strictly true. Pelé retired from the World Cup at the age of 29, from Santos and from football before he turned 34. Nine and a half months later, with certain financial restrictions, he returned to play for the New York Cosmos.

Now going through his nineteenth season in Ligue 1, Leo continues to don his superhero suit to rescue a mediocre PSG side, as he did against Lille the previous Sunday, scoring a superb free-kick in the 95th minute for a 4-3 win. almost a miracle. Mbappé himself wanted to carry it on a litter. There is a difference between being the best footballer in the world and being the best footballer in the world in a given year. Lewandowski was certainly the best for a year or two, but no one will ever say he was the best player in the world. He doesn’t give. He lacks more technique, fantasy, genius, talent. He is a great goalscorer in a great season and winning the title. Messi filled an era with virtuosity, an artist of the rectangle with a unique vision of the game. First as an outstanding dribbler, then as an intelligent playmaker, always as a killer shooter. And he was, probably along with Andrea Pirlo, the most enlightened passer of all time.

“FIFA will give it to Messi because he will appreciate his tournament, which is the World Cup,” it said on Twitter. Error, FIFA does not determine the winner, it is chosen by the captains and coaches of 211 teams in the world, journalists and the public. Each of these holdings represents 25% of the votes.

Leo is indeed the favorite to win the World Championship, and how…! Although there is a high probability that it will be his last award. He will soon be 36 years old, and his stature is loosening. Who are the new names appearing in the firmament for the next editions…? (OR)