Lionel Messi and Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati set for Ballon d’Or’ glory

One former Barcelona great, Lionel Messi and a current star, Aitana Bonmati, are set to be handed their respective Ballon d’Or trophies later this month.

The Ballon d’Or award is the most craved and respected in all of football as it shows who has been the best footballer for the past 12 months and, as is usually the case, many of the most famous people will descend on Paris later this month for the ceremony.

There is a male and female award, although this is only the fifth year the latter has been in circulation with Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas winning it the past two years, while Ada Hegerberg was the inaugural winner in 2018.

The shortlists were announced not too long ago for both the male and female awards, but it has long been expected that Messi would win, or at least be in the close running for his eighth award having helped Argentina win the World Cup last December.

Who will win the 2023 Ballon d’Or?

When it comes to the female side of things, Bonmati has easily been the best footballer in Europe over the last 12 months starring for both Barcelona and Spain having won the World Cup out in Australia a few months ago while also doing the double with her club side.

A lot of people can always speculate and wonder who may or who should win the award, but according to Sport, the results have already been leaked and it will be Messi and Bonmati handed the awards in front of their fellow footballers.

Messi certainly had the tougher competition for the award due to the fact Erling Haaland shattered almost every record possible last season with Manchester City by scoring 52 goals across all competitions and helping them complete a historic treble.

Lionel Messi and Aitana Bonmati set for personal accolades

The forward was instrumental in getting Argentina over their hump in World Cup tournaments by scoring seven goals in Qatar, but his club football was less impressive as his final season with PSG fizzled out and is now plying his trade over in America with Inter Miami.

Many will claim that Messi’s club form was not enough to see him win a historic eighth Ballon d’Or, especially with what Haaland did in his first Premier League campaign, but a lot of people believe him winning the World Cup for the first time was too much to ignore.

Bonmati’s route to this eventual success was far clearer as nobody compares to what she did for both club and country, however, the only thing against her was how she handled herself prior to the World Cup.

Bonmati made herself available for the World Cup despite the ongoing off-field issues which have now become public knowledge, and many believe she did this as a way to ensure they achieved team glory as well as the best chance to lift the Ballon d’Or.