Lionel Messi Among Stars Battling For 'Panna d'Or' - The Most Nutmegs In A Year

Lionel Messi could add yet another individual award to his list of accolades - in the form of a 'Panna d'Or.'

The Barcelona superstar is used to picking up the Ballon d'Or in December, having won the trophy six times this year.

However, this year's award ceremony has been cancelled by France Football due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Step up SFL Interactive and Maximum Games. The video game developer and publisher have created the 'Panna d'Or/Golden Nutmeg trophy ahead of Street Power Football's launch later this month.

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Messi is currently in sixth place with 10 nutmegs, two behind current leaders Alejandro 'Papu' Gomez and Jesus Corona with 12.

Check out the full rankings per KickOff.com below.

=9. Angelo Fulgini (Angers & France) - eight nutmegs

=9. Angel Di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain & Argentina) - eight nutmegs

8. Juraj Kucka (Parma & Slovakia) - nine nutmegs

=6. Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina) - 10 nutmegs

=6. Diogo Jota (Wolverhampton Wanderers & Portugal) 10 nutmegs

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=3. Otar Kiteishvili (Sturm Graz & Georgia) - 11 nutmegs

=3. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United & England) - 11 nutmegs

=3. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund & England) - 11 nutmegs

=1. Jesus Corona (Porto & Mexico) - 12 nutmegs

=1. Alejandro "Papu" Gomez (Atalanta & Argentina) - 12 nutmegs

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The data has been collected by StatsBomb and a winner will be decided following the Champions League final.

"Achieving a Panna is one of the most beautiful acts that a body can perform with a ball," freestyle world champion Sean Garnier explained in a press release for the game.

"It can bring elation from a crowd and humiliation for an opponent. Nutmegs, as the English call them, need to be celebrated as an essential part of the beautiful game and the Panna d'Or is the perfect way to do so.

"I look forward to seeing who wins this year's trophy, and then maybe they will be ready to join our line-up of freestyle legends in Street Power Football."

Messi returns to action on Friday night as Barcelona face Bayern Munich in a Champions League semi-final, a team who've witnessed his nutmegging skills before.

Marcus Rashford could also make a late surge, as he and Manchester United reached the Europa League semi-finals with a 1-0 win over Copenhagen on Monday.

Topics: Football News, Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

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