The Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has paid tribute to the Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova and the defender Eric Abidal after failing to mention them while receiving the fourth consecutive FIFA Ballon d’Or award. The 25-year-old recently became the first player in the world to lift the famous trophy four times in succession. He managed to beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta to the title. After receiving the award, Messi thanked a number of players for his teammates at club and international level. Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova and Eric Abidal are both recovering from illness and were not present at the awards ceremony.
Messi came through the youth system at Barcelona, but it was the former manager Guardiola who decided to build a team around the striker. It has paid dividends in a huge way because he has been able to become the best player in the world, while also breaking numerous records on the way. Messi recently managed to score 91 goals in all competitions for club and country, which has broken the all-time record held by Gerd Muller. This alone has been sufficient for him to lift the fourth FIFA Ballon d’Or award. Messi managed to take 41% of the votes, while Ronaldo managed just over 20%.
“Obviously I also wanted to share the prize with Tito and Abidal. What happened to them was a hard blow and to see them working again makes me very happy. That is the biggest prize: they are with us again. Now (Tito) needs to do the rehabilitation work but he will surely be well and back with us soon. When I came out to collect the prize I was nervous and the words did not come to me. Now we must celebrate what we have won,” said Messi after winning the award.