Kylian Mbappe Backs Barcelona's Lionel Messi for 2019 Ballon d'Or

Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe believes Lionel Messi deserves to win the Ballon d'Or in 2019 despite Barcelona's shock exit to Liverpool in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. 

The winner of the prestigious award will not be decided until the end of the year. But it invariably comes down to individual successes in the previous full season.

On that criteria, Messi is the obvious favourite given his 36 goals in Barcelona's La Liga-winning 2018-19 campaign. Barca will also win a domestic double this term if they beat Valencia in Saturday's Copa del Rey final.

And for Mbappe, there is no doubt the Argentinian superstar should claim the gong in 2019, per MailOnline's Danny Gallagher:

"Despite the elimination [from the Champions League], it does not change anything. He [Messi] is the No. 1. He has shown he was the best player this year. This year will take us up to December, but I'm not worried about him."

As well as finishing top scorer in La Liga this season for a record-equalling sixth time, the 31-year-old also looks set to finish with the most goals in the UEFA Champions League.

Before Barca were knocked out by Liverpool in the last four—losing 4-0 in the second leg to squander a 3-0 lead—Messi netted 12 times in Europe's premier competition.

The next best return in 2018-19 has been Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski with eight, while the closest challengers who still have the final to play are Tottenham Hotspur duo Harry Kane and Lucas Moura on five.

Messi is a five-time winner of the Ballon d'Or. He and Cristiano Ronaldo monopolised the award for a decade from 2008.

Luka Modric finally broke the duo's run last year after leading Croatia to the FIFA World Cup final and winning the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid.

Even then, though, Messi looked to have been hard done by:

If he does not already have a sixth Ballon d'Or wrapped up, Messi could seal it by leading Argentina to Copa America glory this summer in Brazil.

La Albiceleste's Group B campaign kicks off against Colombia on June 15, before fixtures against Paraguay and Qatar.