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When 2018 began, Lionel Messi was the clear favourite to end the year with the Ballon d’Or trophy in his hand. However, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah have been giving a stiff competition and have overtaken the Barcelona star in the Ballon d’Or Power rankings.
The Argentine has had a stunning season but somehow has fallen behind in the race for the greatest individual honour for a footballer. Ronaldo and Salah guided their teams to the Champions League finals and that gave them extra points while the fact that Messi ended with two trophies has been forgotten.
The Barcelona legend had a 4-1 lead over Ronaldo but with 4 Ballon d’Or trophies in 5 years, the Portuguese star is now on level terms. This season might be the final time one of these two win the trophy, so this might well be the decider to see who finishes with the most Ballon d’Ors.
Barcelona are said to be doing their best to improve their squad for the 2018/19 season with Antoine Griezmann being heavily linked with a move to Camp Nou. The French striker can take some pressure off Messi and Suarez and help in improving the team’s performances as a whole.
With the club and players ready to do everything, here are 3 things that Messi has to do to get back on top of the Ballon d’Or race:
#3 Impress in the World Cup
One criticism everyone has of Lionel Messi is that he fails on the big stage while playing for Argentina. He only has an Olympic goal medal to show for his honours in his national colors. He has been in 4 finals but has ended up losing every single one of them.
This World Cup is the best chance for him to do his best and drag Argentina into the final once again. He brought them into the World Cup with a stellar performance vs Ecuador that included a hat-trick.
If he gets into that gear and spearheads Argentina's attack, there aren’t many who can stop him from winning the games for his side.
#2 Play as CAM for Barcelona
Barcelona are said to be signing Antoine Griezmann this summer. With that they will have 2 stunning strikers in their squad.
Valverde will have the freedom to play with a 4-4-2 (diamond) formation. Busquets playing right in front of the defence, Rakitic and Paulinho as RM and LM and then Messi as CAM.
Messi has played in the hole before and was impressive every single time. That 6-1 win over PSG saw the best and f the Argentine in that position and Barcelona fans would love it if he starts playing there more often.
#1 Start the season just like that last one
Messi’s sensational start to the. 2017/18 World Cup gave him a good lead in the Ballon d'Or rankings. The Argentine just needs to replicate this and he'll be back on top easily.
Iniesta will be a huge miss but Barcelona will have a lot of resources in the team to help him play at this best. Neymar’s departure helped him get better but Griezmann’s arrival can help him take his game to the next level, if there is one.
He finished this season the as the top scorer with 34 goals, most assists (12), most chances created (30), the most man of match awards (22) and most successful dribbles per match. At the time of the Ballon d'Or ceremony, if he's still got these stats to his name for next season, there will be very little that Ronaldo and Salah can do to beat him for the trophy.
