Lionel Messi Should Not Win 2012 Ballon d’Or Believes Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Tuesday, 2nd October, 2012

Lionel Messi should not be handed this year’s Ballon d’Or as he failed to win either La Liga or the Champions League last season, in the opinion of Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Messi has picked up the last three consecutive Ballon d’Or accolades and is strongly fancied to collect the 2012 edition.

relatedNewsStory But for Ibrahimovic, who played with Messi for a season at Barcelona, the time has come to look elsewhere when handing out the prestigious award.

"He had a great season on a personal level, but he has hardly won a trophy", said the PSG striker to Eurosport.

"He has already won three Ballon d’Ors and, if this continues, nobody else will.

"It is time to give it to other players."

Messi has begun the new season in style, already scoring six goals in six La Liga games as Barcelona have picked up a perfect 18 points.

Ibrahimovic meanwhile has also been on fire, at new club PSG.

The Swede has notched seven goals in only six Ligue 1 games.