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The forward added to his 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019
trophies after winning the Copa America for the first time with
his country last July.
"It's incredible to be here again. Two years ago I thought it
was the last time. Winning the Copa America was key," Messi said
at Paris's Theatre du Chatelet.
"It is a special year for me with this Copa America title. It
meant a lot to win at the Maracana stadium and I was so happy to
celebrate with the people from Argentina.
"I don't know if it's the best year of my life, I've had a long
career, but it was a special one with the title with Argentina
after the tough times and the criticism."
Messi, who joined Paris St Germain on a free transfer from
Barcelona during the close season after finishing as La Liga's
top scorer with the Spanish club, collected 613 points, with
Bayern Munich's Lewandowski, named best striker on Monday,
getting 580.
Jorginho, who won the Champions League with Chelsea and the
European championship with Italy, ended up third on 460, ahead
of France's Karim Benzema and Ngolo Kante in fourth and fifth
places respectively.
Chelsea, named club of the year, also had keeper Edouard Mendy
finishing second in the Yashin trophy behind Italy's Gianluigi
Donnarumma.
The women's Ballon d'Or went to Alexia Putellas after the Spain
midfielder guided Barcelona to Champions League glory.
"The key moment was the Champions League final against Olympique
Lyonnais," she said.
Putellas is the third winner of the Ballon d’Or Feminin after
Ada Hegerberg in 2018 and Megan Rapinoe in 2019. There was no
ceremony last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On a good night for Barcelona, the 19-year-old Pedri was awarded
the Kopa trophy for the best Under-21 player.
"The best way to celebrate turning 19 is receiving this award.
I’d like to thank everyone at Barcelona for helping me here," he
said.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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