Argentine footballer Lionel Messi received in Paris the Laureus World Sports Award for the best international male sportsman of the year, attributed for his victory with the Albiceleste at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Paris, May 9 (PL) - Argentine footballer Lionel Messi received in Paris the Laureus World Sports Award for the best international male sportsman of the year, attributed for his victory with the Albiceleste at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

For the second time in his career, the French PSG star and former Barcelona superstar has won the prestigious award, considered the Oscar of sport, after sharing it in 2020 with British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton.

Messi, 35, walked the red carpet of the event accompanied by his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, without answering the questions of the journalists on site.

The famous footballer is living complicated moments in Paris after the two-week ban imposed on him last Tuesday by PSG for missing a club training session on May 1, being on a business trip to Saudi Arabia.

However, the striker apologized on Friday in a video circulated on social networks, which apparently went down well with the leadership of the red-and-blue team because the native of Rosario returned to training on Monday.

At the ceremony, before the announcement of the winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for the best international male athlete of 2022, Messi spoke with Polish striker Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona, which sparked rumors about the future of the Argentine.

Media and specialists in France claim that his relationship with PSG is over and there will be no contract extension, which will expire on June 30, with many speculating that he could return to the famous Catalan club.

The Laureus World Sports Awards have been presented every year since 2000 for athletes who shine both individually and collectively, with the winners chosen by a 42-member jury.

The list of laureates accompanying Messi could not be more illustrious, with Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, tennis players Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, U.S. golfer Tiger Wood and German motorist Michael Schumacher.

OTHER AWARD WINNERS

The Argentine national soccer team, world champions in Qatar 2022, and Jamaican running star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were also among the winners.

With its world crown, the third in its history, the Albiceleste became the logical winner of the award for the best team of the year. Among the women, the award went to the diminutive but already legendary Caribbean sprinter Fraser-Pryce, winner of the gold medal in the 100 meters at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.