Pedri, player of FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team, won the Kopa trophy of the Ballon d’Or for the best player under-21

The FC Barcelona midfielder Pedro González López, Pedri, won the Kopa trophy at the age of 17, the Golden Ball for the best under-21 player given by the magazine France Football.

A few days after being designated Golde Boy by the Italian magazine Tuttosport, the canary also won this award a few minutes before the 65 Ballon d’Or was announced, for which he was also a candidate, but he finished 24th in the ranking of 30 finalists.

Pedri is rewarded for the magnificent season he has completed with Barcelona, ​​with whom he won the Copa del Rey, and with the Spanish team, where he reached the semifinals of the European Championship and won silver at the Tokyo Games.

The player wanted to dedicate the award to his family, but he also had words of support for the island of La Palma, affected by the eruption of a volcano: “They are having a hard time and all the support that we give them is welcome.”

The player, who received the award from the Italian Fabio Cannavaro, also thanked the support of his teammates and captains, including the Argentine Lionel Messi, who was from Barça until last summer: “Thank you for everything you have helped me” .

The canary, who turned 19 on the 25th, assured that this is “the best way to celebrate it, to receive an award alongside the best footballers in the world.”

The player, who received a gift from the presenter of the ceremony, the former footballer Didier Droba, a recyclable bottle, took the opportunity to ask that the use of plastics be limited.

The young prodigy trained in Las Palmas, who arrived at Barça in 2020, has been imposing himself as an essential element of the team, although now he is going through an injury that keeps him away from the pitch.

Pedri becomes the third player to win the Kopa trophy, after Kylian Mbappé won it in 2018 and the following year it was the Dutchman Matthijs de Ligt.

The Barcelona player, who attended the ceremony accompanied by a large delegation from his club, led by the president, Joan Laporta, was also the protagonist by signing a shirt of the Spanish team for the pilot Fernando Alonso, who was in charge together with Esteban Ocón to bring the trophies to the ceremony.

In addition to Pedri, other members of Barça appear as candidates, the players of the women’s section Alexia Putellas, Sandra Paños and Jennifer Hermoso and Lieke Martens.

Along with him were the English Mason Greenwood (Manchester United) Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund) and Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), the Germans Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) and Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), the Belgian Jérémy Doku (Rennes). ), the Dutch Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax Amsterdam), the American Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund) and the Portuguese Nuno Mendes (PSG). (D)