Jude Bellingham Acknowledges Lionel Messi as a Legend After Receiving Golden Boy Award in Italy

Jude Bellingham Acknowledges Lionel Messi as a Legend After Receiving Golden Boy Award in Italy

Byron Pillay
updated at December 5, 2023 at 10:32 AM
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  • Jude Bellingham was officially presented with the Golden Boy award at a ceremony in Italy
  • Bellingham was quizzed about Lionel Messi, a player who won the Golden Boy and Ballon d'Or
  • The Englishman had high praise for Inter Miami's Messi, describing him as a legend of the game

Jude Bellingham is truly honoured to be a Golden Boy winner.

The Real Madrid star officially was presented with the award at the official ceremony in Turin, becoming the first Los Blancos player to win it.

Jude Bellingham and Lionel Messi.
Jude Bellingham heaped high praise on Lionel Messi, a player who won the Golden Boy award and then went on to win the Golden Boy award. Image: @BellinghamJude (Twitter)/ Franck Fife.
Source: Getty Images

As noted by Marca, Bellingham finished first in the voting, with 97 per cent of the votes cast by the journalists.

The news was announced in November, but the Englishman only officially received his award at the ceremony in Turin on December 4.

Bellingham quizzed about Lionel Messi

After being presented with his award, Bellingham was asked about how it felt to win an award that many prestigious footballers have previously held.

Lionel Messi’s name was specifically mentioned, as the former Barcelona star went from winning the award in 2005 to winning eight Ballon d’Or awards.

Bellingham considers Messi one of the greatest

The Madrid superstar then joked about how Messi didn’t have a bad run in winning so many Ballon d’Ors before going on to praise him.

“A great legend of the game, one of the greatest to ever play it and just to join that list of players is a great honour,” Bellingham said.

Bellingham winning awards for fun

It’s been quite the past few months for Bellingham as the English youngster first won the Kopa Trophy at the Ballon d’Or awards before taking home the Golden Boy award.

He also won the Golden Boy Web Award, a special honour given to the play that received the most votes from the public online.

Bellingham dresses to impress at Golden Boy Gala

Jude Bellingham's style of play isn’t the only thing about the young Englishman that continues to turn heads.

The Real Madrid star is known for being a fashion icon, and his style often has people take notice.

Bellingham proved that once more as he put his best foot forward at the Golden Boy Gala, Sports Brief reported.

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Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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