England's Player of the Year Beth Mead has laughed off a photograph referring to her as partner Vivianne Miedema's "guest" at Monday night's Ballon d'Or awards ceremony.
The Arsenal couple, who were both nominated for the 2022 Women's Ballon d'or accolade, were photographed together at the ceremony in Paris moments before Mead was named runner-up to Barcelona's Alexia Putellas. One of the snaps of the couple on the red carpet was captioned "Vivianne Miedema and a guest".
Mead, who helped guide England to Women's Euro glory last summer, wrote in response to a tweet of the photo: "LOL", followed by a thumbs-up emoji and a crying laughing face emoji.
Mead's second-place finish in the Ballon d'Or rankings rounded off a clinical season for the 27-year-old forward at international and domestic levels. Mead scored six goals and notched five assists at the Euros to take home the tournament's golden boot and player of the tournament awards.
At Arsenal, she helped the Gunners finish runners-up in the Women's Super League, scoring 11 goals and creating eight more in the process. Nevertheless, Mead's exploits were not enough to keep Putellas from retaining her title as the world's best women's player. The 28-year-old scored a league-high 18 goals in 26 matches to clinch another Spanish title for Barcelona.
Putellas also helped her side to the Spanish Cup and Super Cup and topped the goal-scoring charts in the Women's Champions League with 10 goals in 11 matches, though Barcelona lost the final to Lyon. Putellas missed the Euros after suffering an ACL injury.
Mead is the first English player to make the Ballon d'Or's top three since Lucy Bronze finished second in 2019. Australia and Chelsea star Sam Kerr finished third in the women's votes, ahead of the Germany and Wolfsburg midfielder Lena Oberdorf. Putellas’s Spain and Barca teammate Aitana Bonmati completed the top five.
Mead opened up about her sexuality last month after previously revealing she was in a relationship with Miedema.
The Arsenal star said she struggled with her sexuality for a long time, but is now confident to open up about the subject, even joking that the star power of her relationship with Miedema is on par with that of David and Victoria Beckham for 'the lesbian world'.
"Actually, I've never physically come out and said I'm gay, I'm with a girl because I've not had to. I'm just being me. I've put pictures with my partner on social media. To me, I've tried to make it the norm rather than make it a statement," Mead told Sky Sports.
"Obviously for the men right now, they have to put it out in the media to then see what reaction they get and I get the culture in the men's game is still very different and it is much, much harder. But for me, I want to bridge that gap and help men as much as women.
"It's a tough process. It is emotionally and physically draining, and I get all aspects for people, but for me, you can't help who you fall in love with and if you are happy at the end of the day."
