Lionel Messi has just lost the “Golden Foot 2024” award to his compatriot Lautaro Martinez, forcing him to continue waiting to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho on the list of winners of this award.
Many famous players like Ronaldo, Ibra or Ronaldinho have won the Golden Foot but Messi has not.
The Golden Foot award has been given to players over the age of 27 only once in their career since 2003. The winner is allowed to leave his footprints on the “Champions Promenade” in Monaco as a reward.
Messi’s former Barcelona teammate Ronaldinho won the award in 2009 after scoring 10 goals and providing six assists in 36 games.
Cristiano Ronaldo also won the award in 2020 during his time at Juventus. The Portuguese superstar scored 37 goals and provided 7 assists in 46 matches for the Old Lady of Turin that year.
Lionel Messi has been nominated for the 2024 award along with Marco Verratti, Neymar, Virgil van Dijk, Thomas Muller, Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne, Karim Benzema, Antoine Griezmann and Lautaro Martinez.
Lautaro receives Golden Foot award 2024
In the end, Lautaro won the award. The 1997-born striker had an excellent 2023/24 season, winning the Serie A title with Inter Milan and becoming the league’s top scorer, with 24 goals in 33 games. He also scored the winning goal in the 2024 Copa America final against Colombia in the summer.
After losing out to Lautaro, Messi will be hoping to match his great rival Ronaldo for the award next year. The Argentine superstar has been in fine form for Inter Miami, scoring 22 goals and providing 13 assists in 23 games this season.
The “Golden Foot” is also the only individual award that Messi lacks in his great career. This is also what Ronaldo’s fans often use to say that CR7 has surpassed Messi.
Messi and Ronaldo to compete for the 2029 Ballon d’Or
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are set to compete for another footballing title in 2029. That is the Ballon d’Or, awarded by France Football magazine. The award has only been given once, and was won by the late Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano in 1989. Messi and Ronaldo will be 42 and 44 respectively when the award is presented in Paris and are likely to have retired by then. The legendary pair could be competing with other icons such as Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario and Marco van Basten.
