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-Lionel Messi explains why he won the Ballon d'Or in 2021 instead of Lewandowski

After a tumultuous year, Lionel Messi stated that winning the Copa America with Argentina may have been the deciding factor in him winning the men's Ballon d'Or for the seventh time, while Spain's Alexia Putellas won the women's award.

Messi, now 34, beat off highly-touted contenders like as Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema to win the prize at a spectacular event in Paris on Monday, the city he now calls home after leaving Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in August.

Last year, Lewandowski deserved to win the honor, according to Messi.

Despite his emotional departure from Barcelona and a shaky start to life in France, the panel of journalists from across the globe praised him for leading Argentina to their first major international trophy since 1993.

"I believed I was heading into my last years two years ago, but here I am again back here," said Messi, who won the Ballon d'Or in 2019 before the honors were canceled last year because to the epidemic.

In 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015, Messi also won.

"People started asking me when I was going to retire," he remarked at the Chatelet Theatre in downtown Paris, where he was joined by his wife Antonella Roccuzzo and their three children.