Ballon d'Or: How social media reacted to Lionel Messi's win

Lionel Messi beat players including Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to claim the Ballon d'Or

It's happened. Lionel Messi has made football history by picking up a record sixth Ballon d'Or.

The Argentine has won the prestigious award after scoring 54 goals for his club and country in 2018-19, and picking up his 10th La Liga title with Barcelona as well.

It's the first time Messi has picked up the award since 2015.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk came second, with five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo third in the voting.

So how did the world of social media react?

Plenty of praise for Messi, aka the 'best footballer on the planet', aka 'the GOAT':

Despite some people not agreeing Messi was the worthy winner, sports journalist Thierry Nyann wanted to put the record straight.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker reiterated the point that Messi is the 'best player in world football'.

Football 'speaks his language'.

And did anybody know this? He has a 'new title' to add to his collection.

But not everybody thought Messi should have won:

Cue: "He did nothing in the World Cup".

And Liverpool beat Barcelona, remember?

...and then Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold tweeted this:

If you know, you know.

Which led to Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk was 'robbed' tweets:

Plenty of VVD fans out there asking why he didn't win.

But really, it was Matteo Messi who stole the show:

Messi's young son had an adorable reaction to watching his dad pick up the Ballon d'Or trophy, and it was very special.

What an evening, congratulations to Lionel Messi, will he ever be overtaken?