Chronicle EditorMADRID. — Barcelona’s Brazilian star Neymar says winning the Ballon d’Or is one of his goals, but he will not lose any sleep if he never takes home football’s top individual award.“If I don’t win the Ballon d’Or, it’s okay,” he said in an interview posted on the La Liga website on Monday when asked if he was disappointed that he was not named as one of three finalists for the prize this year.
“I don’t play football to win the Ballon d’Or, I play football to be happy because I love it, because I want to play football. Unfortunately only one person can win it,” he added.
“Of course it is one of my goals winning the Ballon d’Or but I won’t die if I don’t.” The Ballon d’Or has passed back and forth between Real Madrid’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi for the last nine years since Brazilian Kaka won the 2007 award. Neymar was a finalist for the prize for the first time last year before losing out to Messi who won the accolade for the fifth time. — AFP.
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