Lionel Messi won his sixth Ballon d'Or on Monday and surpassed his on-field arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won it five times. As expected, it was a moment of surprise and excitement for the 32-year-old football star the moment he realised that he is the recipient of the award.
"For real? For real? For real?" not once but thrice Messi asked Pascal Ferre, editor-in-chief of France Football magazine to be sure if he has been named the winner of 2019 Ballon d'Or. According to a report in Barca Blaugranes, Pascal Ferre called up Messi in the middle of November when the football star was in Mallorca for a match between Argentina and Brazil and informed him that he is the winner.
"It was a very natural conversation. I told him that I wanted to talk about the Ballon d'Or, that I had news to give him, and he told me he had heard rumors. I responded to him like this: 'well, they are not rumors, I am announcing to you officially that you have won the Ballon d'Or.' And then he started to ask me, 'For real? For real? For real?' I told him many times, and I responded to him that, yes, yes, yes, he is the winner," Ferre was quoted as saying.
Ferre further said it was apparent that Messi "missed" winning the trophy and was like a child who "always gets gifts on the same date and is used to it, until one day he doesn't get them, and he is anxious to recover them."
France Football magazine presents the Ballon d'Or award annually to the best footballer in the last year and have been doing so since 1956.
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