The real Madrid midfielder handed the prestigious individual award to Messi and took to social media to congratulate his rival. Modric won the award after a stellar year that saw Croatia get to the world cup final after winning the champions league for a third successive season with real Madrid. He ended Messi's and Ronaldo's 10 year dominance of the trophy.
Messi won his sixth ballon d'Or after scoring 41 goals in 44 games for club across a calendar year. He also guided Barcelona to the Laliga trophy and was the top scorer in the competition at the end of the 2018-2019 season.
Modirc said- "sports and football are not just about winning, they're also about respect for your teammates and rivals".
virgil vandijk of Liverpool was the runner up and closest competitor of for the trophy. The defender had a stellar season himself and would have been the first defender to lift the trophy since cannavaro pulled it off in 2006 but messi's magic was the difference on Monday night.
The Netherlands defender won the 2019 champions league with Liverpool as they brushed messi's Barcelona easily in the second leg of the semi-final and Liverpool finished second domestically despite having 97 points and losing just one game to eventual winners Manchester city.
The ballon d'Or has now been won by a laliga player in the past 11 years after messi's latest feat. still only 32 years there might be more for the mercurial forward who just clocked 700 appearances for Barcelona not long ago.
The numbers are astonishing, 614 goals for Barcelona, 34 trophies in total which includes 10 laliga cups and 4 European cups.
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