For greater than a decade, Lionel Messi was the dominant winner throughout most soccer award ceremonies. Nonetheless, as his profession enters its ultimate stage, that pattern has shifted, and the Argentine icon has just lately been absent from the highest positions in main voting outcomes. Now, Colombia nationwide workforce head coach Nestor Lorenzo has revealed new particulars concerning the FIFA The Finest awards.
“In 2024, I voted for Messi as one of the best participant on this planet for The Finest,” Lorenzo mentioned in a current interview with La Nacion. “And in 2025 I needed to vote for him once more, however they didn’t enable it as a result of he wasn’t among the many eligible candidates.”
After encountering that restriction from FIFA, the Argentine head coach of the Colombia nationwide workforce defined his response. “‘What do you imply he’s not on the record?’ I requested. So long as Messi steps onto a discipline, he would be the finest participant on this planet,” Lorenzo mentioned, earlier than drawing a comparability to Diego Maradona. “The identical factor occurred with Diego: if he was taking part in, there was nobody higher.”
Finally, unable to pick out Lionel Messi because the world’s finest participant, Lorenzo forged his three votes for present European soccer stars when submitting his poll for The Finest awards. Harry Kane, Vitinha, and Ousmane Dembele have been his decisions.
Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a objective for Argentina.
Messi has gained The Finest award prior to now
Regardless that Lionel Messi was not eligible for The Finest award in 2025, he has an intensive and profitable historical past with the trophy. In truth, the Argentine ahead is essentially the most adorned winner within the award’s historical past, having claimed it thrice, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski, who’ve every gained it twice.
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Equally, Messi additionally dominates the game’s different main particular person honor, the Ballon d’Or. The Inter Miami star has gained the France Soccer award eight instances, in comparison with 5 for Cristiano Ronaldo, his closest challenger.
Nestor Lorenzo is aware of Messi properly
As head coach of Colombia, Nestor Lorenzo has confronted Lionel Messi a number of instances, together with the 2024 Copa America ultimate. Past these encounters, nonetheless, Lorenzo’s data of the Argentine ahead dates again a few years by way of their shared skilled historical past.
Lorenzo spent a number of years as an assistant coach to Jose Nestor Pekerman with each the Argentina nationwide workforce and the Colombia nationwide workforce. That background in the end performed a key position in his appointment as head coach of Colombia in 2022.
Throughout his time with Argentina, the coach crossed paths with Messi when the ahead was simply starting his skilled profession. “Once we have been taking part in within the Confederations Cup in Germany in 2005, Messi was concurrently taking part in within the Below-20 World Cup within the Netherlands. And we have been already falling in love with what he was able to doing,” Lorenzo recalled in the identical interview.
“Lionel has an inexplicable reward, however above all, I imagine it’s as a result of he at all times thinks concerning the ball,” the Colombia coach mentioned. “His longevity and consistency have made him one of many best in historical past. He doesn’t simply do issues that nobody else can do — he does them for a few years. And that requires a whole lot of self-discipline. What he has performed and what he’s nonetheless doing is unbelievable. It is going to be many, a few years earlier than we see something like that once more.”
