Messi bypassed Yashin and became the second oldest winner of the Ballon d'Or won the Ballon d'Or for the seventh time. This was reported by the Lenta.ru correspondent.
Messi became the second in the list of the oldest winners – he received the award at the age of 34 years 158 days. The striker beat the Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin in this indicator, who received the award in 1963 at the age of 34 years 56 days.
English football player Stanley Matthews remains the oldest winner of the Ballon d'Or. He became the first player to receive this award in 1956. At that time, the footballer was 41 years 321 days old.
On November 29, Paris hosted the Golden Ball award ceremony, which was awarded to the best footballer of the year. In the dispute for the trophy, Messi beat Pole Robert Lewandowski, who was recognized as the best forward.