Former German player criticizes Messi’s Ballon d’Or and tells his favorite

Former Germany player, Lothar Matthaus commented this Tuesday, 31st, about the Ballon d’Or award, given by France Football to Lionel Messi. Criticizing the decision, the world champion and his national team guaranteed that the Norwegian Erling Haaland deserved the win more than the player from InterMiami.

“Throughout last year, Haaland performed better than Messi. It’s not deserved for Messi to win. For me, there is no way to avoid Haaland. The election is a farce, even though I’m a Messi fan”, he stated Matthaus in an interview with the “Sky” channel. It is worth remembering that the athlete won the Ballon d’Or in the 1990 season.

Despite this, the former player stated that the magazine’s criteria “France Football”, responsible for the award, have changed in relation to their time. The fact that the performance of Messi in the 2022 World Cup, all numbers prevail Haaland, top scorer and champion of the three main competitions he played in, is the biggest problem.

“A World Cup counts more than anything else. For me, Haaland is the best player of the last 12 months. He won major titles with Manchester City and broke scoring records in the process”, added the German star, world champion with Germany in 1990.

In any case, the award once again went to Lionel Messi, who secured his eighth Ballon d’Or trophy in his career. The number 9 shirt Manchester City was second in the election, while the French Kyllian Mbappéof PSGclosed the podium in third position.

I thought it was a setup, I went to check and, well, what a shame…

Cristiano Ronaldo has to celebrate every day the fact that he won 5 Ballon d’Ors during the Messi Era. This is the greatest achievement of his career. pic.twitter.com/EJnmnA6bi9

— Victor Canedo (@vcanedo) October 31, 2023