Barcelona forward Leo Messi celebrates after scoring. Photo EPA Barcelona forward Leo Messi celebrates after scoring. Photo EPA
Barcelona forward Leo Messi celebrates after scoring. Photo EPA
Jonathan White
Opinion

Opinion

Jonathan White

Ballon d’Or: Lionel Messi deserved to win over Liverpool’s Van Dijk despite raising the bar to where extraordinary looks ordinary

  • Time for a defender to win, some say, as they point to Virgil Van Dijk’s stellar season but history says otherwise
  • Only three defenders and one goalkeeper have ever won the award – and rightly so

Jonathan White
Jonathan White

Updated: 6:10pm, 3 Dec, 2019

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Barcelona forward Leo Messi celebrates after scoring. Photo EPA Barcelona forward Leo Messi celebrates after scoring. Photo EPA
Barcelona forward Leo Messi celebrates after scoring. Photo EPA
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Jonathan White

Jonathan White

Jonathan White joined the Post in 2017 after a decade reporting on sport from China. He originally moved to Beijing to coach football in 2007 and later spent two years in Shanghai.