Rivaldo backs Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d’Or

Former Barcelona star Rivaldo has backed Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d’Or crown after impressing on the individual scale during the previous campaign. The Argentina international has won five Ballon d’Or titles during his illustrious career but none of those have resulted during the previous three editions of the prestigious accolade.

Speaking to Betfair, Rivaldo said that Messi has the chance to secure a record sixth Ballon d’Or crown this year, considering he was exceptional on the individual scale with more than 50 goals across all competitions, he told: “In my opinion, the Ballon d’Or of this season is Messi for what he has done. He didn’t win the Champions League, but because it is an individual prize he scored a lot of goals, important goals.”

Meanwhile, Messi’s nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo had a good return with Juventus last term with 28 goals across all competitions and Rivaldo believes the duo will continue competing with each other during the forthcoming campaign, he added:”They are such great players. I like them both. Messi always makes the difference at Barcelona and Ronaldo at every club and the national team – Juventus and Portugal. It’s going to be thrilling again. When you talk about them it’s for something good, they both score so many goals.”

Messi had been touted to celebrate a treble with Barcelona during the previous campaign but he ended up with only the league title. The Camp Nou giants squandered the chance to reach the Champions League final after shocking performance against Liverpool on the road. On the other hand, they could not get the better of Valencia for the Copa del Rey and they surrendered the title which they had won for the past four seasons. To add to that disappointment, Messi could not savour the dream of securing a maiden international trophy after Argentina bowed out at the semi-final stage of the Copa America.