IMO it was not fair. Messi didn't played well in his present club compared to the performance of Ronaldo in at El Nasir. I believe he actually won the Ballon d'Or because of the world cup he won and he had performed and manage his countries team to win.
Earlier today I had some conversations about this and led to some argument with my freind and neighbor. Most of them were sentimental because they love Messi and a loyal fan to him. One of them said something that changed my mindset. He said in other to win the Ballon d'Or it does not depend on the voting strength its different now. What is important is your input to the team you play with. When Mudrich won the Ballon d'Or he won world cup and played very well and his impact to his team was top notch.
Just win a world cup and you win the Ballon d'Or
Very boring, almost every one talking about Messi
The Messi I know, just like what you said Messi don't deserve this award when talking about Messi and Cr7, Messi is no where compared to Ronaldo for real, never. When it comes to creativeness and football I will give the card to Ronaldo. Now I want to understand something, I think this Ballon d'Or award would have been given to mbappe if France had won the world cup and that's just the truth. Honestly speaking Messi dont deserve this award why? He lacks creative skill this time. Secondly why am I seeing people calling Haaland, same Haaland that has been quite for a while he only get a chance to score goal when their opponent are weak and can't play, just like what he did to Manchester united this Sunday. For me mbappe deserves this award