SportsFila has received new reports from ESPN claiming that Lionel Messi is a firm favourite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or. But Does Messi deserve to win the Ballon d’Or ahead of Haaland?
Omer Subasi: “Wasn’t winning the World Cup the biggest achievement in football? For someone to be the goat, wasn’t it the ultimate requirement? Suddenly it became an insignificant 7-match tournament?
Contratulations to the GOAT: Messi Wins Qatar World Cup for Argentina
It promises to be a unique Ballon d’Or battle, with the World Cup taking place in the middle of the 2022-23 campaign, meaning it could be a distant memory by the time votes are cast in August. There is no doubt, however, that playing a starring role in Qatar has boosted some players’ chances of competing for the Golden Ball, even with domestic and European titles now having been decided.
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Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Last time: 2nd
In 2022-23: 53 goals, nine assists. Won Champions League, Premier League & FA Cup.
Haaland has broken countless records over the course of the season, and there was a time in late April that it seemed inevitable he would move to the top of the Ballon d’Or rankings come the end of the campaign.
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However, a run of just one goal in his final eight games means he will likely come up short in 2023, even though it was his goals that played a massive role in City winning the treble
Who, then, has put themselves in the frame for the biggest individual honour of them all? Join GOAL as our 12-month Ballon d’Or Power Rankings journey comes to a conclusion…
As per Messi in Bayern UCL match, PSG was already garbage as a team. Halland was invisible with the best team in the world in the semifinals and the final”
Leo Messi wins Argentina Qatar World Cup
Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
Last time: 1st
In 2022-23: 38 goals, 25 assists. Won World Cup, Ligue 1 & Trophee des Champions.
Messi did his best to throw an eighth Ballon d’Or away with his stuttering form during the second half of the season, but in the end his iconic World Cup win is likely to be enough to earn him yet another Golden Ball.
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With it now more likely than ever that he is done with European football, though, does it mean it will be his eighth and final win of the award? SportsFila.com thinks Leo Messi has a good chance to win Ballon d’or 2023 over Erling Haaland.
More importantly though, Messi was MOTM in every knockout match and Player of the Tournament at the WC.
He ends the season with the most G/A for club + country out of any player. Sure, PL is more impressive than League 1, but part of Messi’s tally comes from the World Cup. Haaland still gets the edge there, but let’s be honest. He was ghosting in the big UCL games. He got a 6.6 rating in the final. He did NOT win player of the Tournament at the UCL.
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Haaland and Messi have almost the same goal involvements in their leagues. Messi showed up and was THE deciding factor during the World Cup. Haaland: FA final? Ghost. UCL semi and final? Ghost. Man City COULD have won the UCL without Haaland (which is crazy because that’s why they bought him).
Argentina were DONE in the GROUP STAGE without Messi. It’s not because he’s “Messi”. He’s the best player in the world. I understand the Messi fatigue, but if that’s what it is, just say that. Haaland is a league merchant. I was hoping Haaland showed up so someone could snatch it from Messi without any debate this time around. LM8.
Dario Poggi: “It’s funny to witness Julien Laurens’ arch from adoring Lionel Messi up until 2021, to criticizing Lionel Messi whenever he gets even the smallest case ever since. And throwing shots at Messi – with those “this is for who is the best player in the world this season, IT’S NOT BECAUSE YOU WIN THE WORLD CUP AND YOU’RE VERY GOOD FOR A MONTH THAT YOU ARE THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD […]”, it is becoming pretty pathetic, from my point of view.”
The narrative dictates that Haaland and Mbappe will be locked in a decade-long battle for Ballons d’Or. Realistically, Haaland will know that his Norwegian-ness means that he probably needed to win the Champions League. He won it but it’s still unlikely to be enough in a year when he is likely to score the most goals too.
You have to appreciate having the greatest player of all time playing for PSG. I don’t understand how can such a top, professional journalist as Julien Laurens have an entire season saying things such as “That Marseille guy (Galtier) is a disgrace” or “I have my fingers crossed, and my toes, and my arms [that Neymar leaves PSG], but he doesn’t want to go to Saudi Arabia, that’s the problem”, when he is a professional doing his job on a worldwide platform, rather than a PSG fan talking football with his mates: these words don’t seem to professional to me. I don’t get it, but perhaps I am missing something.
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So now its a popularity contest, it wasn’t when modric won, and messi was the best player in the ligue 1 as well because he both scored goals and created them. Julien Laurens speak like messi didn’t contribute to PSG winning the league and only mbappe did, if he thinks mbappe is his first choice then he cannot argue messi being first choice of many as he was better than mbappe in ligue 1 and world cup and mbappe was equally or more missing in UCL, its between messi and haaland, stop injecting mbappe just because he is french.
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