Already asked, but where did you get the bold from? Ballon d'Ors are given for calendar years and there's no point talking about some other awards Messi might not deserve. There's no point because they don't exist. If there was an award for both seasons, Lewa would be my pick too. But sadly for the Pole, there isn't.
It's not questionable if we're talking about Ballon d'Or. Because then it refers to the second half of the season or the first half of 2021. International competitions taking place this year are the second hugely influential factor. With no obvious stand-out players in the Euros and Donnarumma being the man of the tournament, Copa will have some more weight. 7 games or not. It's not like there are many more meaningful matches in the CL, yet it usually carries the most points.
To sum it up: Messi had a revival at the beginning of this calendar year which is backed by stats. Believe he's even in the lead. Was he as good as before? No, but he didn't need to. He's not competing with himself. He also won his first international trophy, was the best and most influential player at the Copa. All it takes is a solid start of the season and there's no one close to him this year.
Didn't say I got it from an official statement.
The logic behind cancelling the 2020 award was the covid season and the cancelling of the Euros.
Hence the 2021 cannot only refer to calendar year 2021, as you leave a whole year unaccounted.
Then, what you write about calendar year/season is only on paper correct.
Because in practice these awards look at the whole season that finished the previous summer, and do not give much (or not at all) prominence to what happened the 3 first months of the new season before the award is given.
Messi's 18/19 season as a whole gave him the 2019 Ballon D'Or, not only the last 4 months, and likewise his first months of 19/20 were not important in deciding to give him the award.
I know Copas/Euros/World Cups are weighted heavily, but obviously I am questioning that.
Birdy it's not so much Messi has been at a phenomenal level it's that other players haven't been. Messi a domestic trophy for barca and then copa america too. Voted best player at copa, highest goals and highest assists. On top of that highest scorer in la liga and assist provider. It's a completely fair shout to say he deserves it when the next favourites are:
- Kane: good season with spurs but won nothing.
- Lewandowski: Lots of goals to win the league, out of ucl early (not his fault) and Euros.
- Kante: Had about 5 very good games all season and won UCL.
No one else really comes into the conversation. Out of those 4, Messi clearly has the edge in terms of accomplishments. He also gets a boost because he's Messi, that's just how it's going to be for him and Ronaldo until they retire.
That talk about who won something with his NT makes me laugh (not referring to you Rory in particular)
As if Poland could win Euros or WC.
This criterion is biased and partial to begin with, since NT trophies are won by major football powers, and only Spanish, Italian, German, French, Brazilian, Argentinian etc can be in the discussion.
Belgium's golden generation could not even win something. That means De Bruyne should never win Ballon D'Or?
There you see the irrationality and partiality when factoring in the NT trophies
You should be the last one who who gets upset about the logic of other people's arguments 
