Big loss for Lionel Messi as he misses Ballon d'or cut

Seventime Ballon drsquoOr winner Lionel Messi paid a high price for an underwhelming first season with Paris SaintGermain when he was left off the 30strong list for this yearrsquos coveted football awardLucy Bronze who was runnerup in 2019 is one of three members of Englandrsquos Eurowinning squad to be shortlisted for the womenrsquos awardRegular since 2007Messi who won the title last year had been an everpresent amongst the nominations since 2006 and a regular feature in the top three since 2007 with the exception of 2018Karim BenzemaBut Messi 35 has missed out on the 2022 award following his switch from Barcelona to the French capital A change in the format has also worked against the Argentine superstar with the Ballon drsquoOr no longer acknowledging the best player over a calendar yearInstead it is based on a seasonrsquos record highlighting ldquothe individual performancesrdquo and the ldquodecisive and impressive characterrdquo of the nominees according to the criteria After leaving Barcelona in the summer of 2021 Messi was unable to stamp his genius on a PSG team desperate for a Champions League titleThe French champions suffered a Last16 exit at the hands of eventual winners Real MadridNo Neymar tooIn total Messi scored only 11 goals for PSG with his relatively indifferent club form failing to impress France Football magazine the organisers of the Ballon drsquoOr which will be awarded in Paris on October 17 PSG teammate Neymar also misses out after a season where he scored 13 goals in 28 matches The remainder of the list of nominees throws up few surprisesFifth French winnerFrench international striker Karim Benzema is the overwhelming favourite after being the architect of Real Madridrsquos 14th Champions League title He finished the European campaign with 15 goals Benzema is likely to become the fifth French winner after Raymond Kopa 1958 Michel Platini 1983 1984 1985 JeanPierre Papin 1991 and Zinedine Zidane 1998This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever