For the eighth and probably last time, Lionel Messi will win the Ballon d’Or tonight. Messi will beat competition from Manchester City’s treble-winners, an inevitable result after he inspired Argentina to their first World Cup since Diego Maradona did the same in 1986. The betting has stopped, and the only mystery left at the Paris ceremony is to guess the fabric of his suit.
Messi’s journey can be told in football and in fashion choices. He collected his first Ballon d’Or in 2009 wearing a basic black suit and tie, looking like a boy at the school prom, and with each passing year his attire became more bold: the bow tie and tux in 2010, the velvet sheen in 2011 and the garish polka dots in 2012 symbolising the blooming confidence of a young man who could do no wrong, who could take a hideous suit like a bad pass and turn it into something great, or at least slightly less hideous, by dint of his own brilliance.
