5 records set by Lionel Messi after winning the 2021 Ballon d'Or

#3 Lionel Messi is the first PSG player to win the Ballon d'Or

Manchester City v Paris Saint-Germain: Group A - UEFA Champions League

Lionel Messi has now become the first PSG player to win the Ballon d'Or. For PSG, George Weah came the closest to winning the prestigious trophy. In fact, he did win the Ballon d'Or in 1995 but he secured a move from PSG to AC Milan that summer.

Therefore, he was an AC Milan player when he received the trophy. Weah remains the only African footballer to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or.

In his Ballon d'Or speech, Messi mentioned that he’s more focused about continuing to win titles with PSG and Argentina instead of focusing on a potential eighth award. This will come as good news for PSG fans as Messi is starting to rediscover his form at his new club.

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#4 Oldest player to win the Ballon d’Or in the 21st century

FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2015

At the age of 34 years and 159 days, Lionel Messi also became the oldest footballer to lift the Ballon d'Or this century. Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 and Luka Modric in 2018 were the oldest winners in the millennium before Messi. Both were 33 when they received the prestigious honor.

Only Sir Stanley Matthews is ahead of Lionel Messi’s achievement. Stanley Matthews, who was also the inaugural winner of the Ballon d’Or won it at the age of 41 years. Matthews paid close attention to fitness, and this helped him to keep playing the sport at a high level until he was 50!

Lionel Messi is also the third youngest Ballon d'Or winner in history with only Michael Owen and Brazilian Ronaldo ahead of him.

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#1 First to win the Ballon d’Or in three different decades

FC Barcelona v Athletic Club - La Liga

Football has never seen consistency quite like Lionel Messi. To be able to do what he does is incredible enough, to do it non-stop for nearly 15 years is sheer madness.

Messi has been arguably the best footballer in the world since 2007. Falling short in 2007 and 2008, Lionel Messi won his first Ballon d'Or in 2009. This was followed by three more record-breaking wins until 2012.

Lionel Messi took the Ballon d'Or back from Cristiano Ronaldo in 2015 after a spell-binding season with Barcelona. He then added the sixth trophy to his collection and pulled ahead of Ronaldo in 2019.

12 years since his first win in 2009, Lionel Messi has become the first player to lift the Ballon d'Or in three different decades. This kind of consistency isn’t common in the sport where the greatest footballers have maintained peaks for around five years.

Subjectively, the argument surrounding the best footballer in history may swing between Pele, Messi and Maradona. But objectively, Lionel Messi has gone past those two legends long before.