‘Looking forward to Copa America now’: Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi won the eighth Ballon drsquoOr of his remarkable career at a glittering ceremony in Paris on Monday while Spainrsquos World Cupwinning star Aitana Bonmati took the womenrsquos prizeFor Messi the trophy rewards above all else his inspirational performances at last yearrsquos World Cup in Qatar when he dragged Argentina to victory scoring seven goals and being named the tournamentrsquos best playerMessi said on Monday he was not thinking about his longterm future as he sought to enjoy winning the eighth Ballon drsquoOr of his storied career Messi 36 succeeded Karim Benzema as winner of the prize awarded on the back of his performances last season when he inspired Argentina to glory at the World Cup in QatarlsquoThis one is more specialrsquoldquoThe last one I won was also thanks to what we achieved with the Argentine national team in the Copa America in 2021 but this one is much more special because it comes after we won the World Cuprdquo Messi told various media including AFP after collecting his award at a ceremony in Paris ldquoThat is the trophy everyone wants to win the most and it was a dream come true for me my teammates and my countryrdquoAlso Read lsquoBoth deserve itrsquoHe played down suggestions he could come back for another Ballon drsquoOr possibly after the next World Cup in 2026 when he will be 39 ldquoI am not thinking about the longterm future I am just enjoying the day to day at the momentrdquo he said ldquoWe have a Copa America coming up in the United States where I am now in which we are the holders so I am looking forward to coming into that in good shape and then just see how I am getting on from thererdquoHe dragged Argentina to a victory in Qatar that crowned his remarkable career and allowed him to see off stiff competition for the Ballon drsquoOr from Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland in particular Haaland came second in the final voting with Mbappe third and Kevin De Bruyne in fourth place Former Barcelona superstar Messi scored seven times at the World Cup and was named the tournamentrsquos best player after Argentina beat France on penalties in the final in DohaYet Messi who won his first Ballon drsquoOr in 2009 also had an underwhelming final season at Paris SaintGermain before leaving to play for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer Messi admitted on his return to the French capital that his twoyear stint at PSG had not turned out the way he imagined upon signing from Barcelona in 2021Unique year for BonmatiMeanwhile Bonmati told various media after collecting her award ldquoIt is difficult to improve on this It has honestly been a unique year If anyone had said to me when I was little that I would play at the Camp Nou win a World Cup two Champions Leagues a Ballon drsquoOr a UEFA prize extraordinary things have happened for me latelyrdquoThis 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