‘I’ve never tried to be the best’

Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi said he is grateful to be named among the greatest players in world soccer, but the Argentina forward stressed he does not attach too much importance to individual glory. Messi won the Ballon d’Or award for a recordstretching seventh time on Monday, beating Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski and Chelsea midfi elder Jorginho to be named the world’s best player.

“For me, the mere fact that I can be considered or cited as one of the best players in the world is more than enough,” Messi said in an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe. “I don’t know how to say it so it won’t be misinterpreted... It’s not that I’m not interested, but I don’t attach much importance to it. It doesn’t matter to me if I’m the best or not. And I’ve never tried to be the best either.”

“In the middle of all this, there is also a part of luck. It also depends on God, I believe he chose for all this to happen to me,” he added.