Just like when he won the “Golden Ball”, Lionel Messi won the “FIFA The Best 2023” award. Although there are still many detractors, it cannot be said that the Argentine star is not worthy in the eyes of fans.
“Gaining points” in the eyes of fans by voting for his strongest rival Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi still surpassed two young stars Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to win the “FIFA The Best” award in 2023. .
Golden double
For the second year in a row, Lionel Messi won the “FIFA The Best” award for best male player, also the third time the Argentine superstar won this award (2019, 2022, 2023), more than any other player. any other player in history.Along with “FIFA The Best”, previously, Lionel Messi won the “Golden Ball” award for the 8th time in his glorious and brilliant career. Two noble and prestigious awards of world football in one calendar year are worthy honor and recognition for the best player on the planet Lionel Messi.
Perhaps, if considered within the framework of the criteria of an award, Lionel Messi winning both the “Golden Ball” and “FIFA The Best” is a bit forced. The “Golden Ball” is awarded based on the players’ achievements in the previous season, instead of according to the calendar year. Meanwhile, “FIFA The Best” reviews achievements during the period from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023.There is no need to count Kylian Mbappe, who finished third in both awards with a wide gap in points. With the “Golden Ball”, Messi in the 2022 – 2023 season with PSG only won the Ligue 1 championship and the French Super Cup, scoring 21 goals and 20 assists. He was even ridiculed by the Paris team’s fans for his performance below expectations.
With Erling Haaland, the Norwegian star scored 52 goals in 53 appearances, helping Man City win the “treble” of championship titles (Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup) and he himself was awarded countless awards. Individual awards, mostly for scoring achievements on these fronts.Seeing Haaland maintain high performance throughout the season but still miss the “Golden Ball”, many people were disappointed and disappointed with the voting results. Famous Italian sports journalist Fabrizio Romano expressed his regret for Haaland when he faced Messi with such a big brand that it was not difficult to receive the favor of 100 journalists invited by FIFA to participate in the commentary. select.
Former Man City captain Richard Dunne thinks differently. He believes that Erling Haaland is the best scorer and deserves the award for “Top scorer”. However, the disappointment lies in the fact that Haaland cannot compete in major arenas at the team level. On the contrary, everyone loves watching Messi play football, it’s like watching a performance from another planet with dribbles past 5 players, “threading the needle” through the opponent’s foot and bringing very high entertainment.
After Messi won this award, besides the wishes, there were also familiar criticisms such as: “FIFA darling” or “Messi bought the award”… These are truly baseless “anti-arguments”, because All votes have been made public by the organizers.
Unlike awards that are voted on based on specific statistical indicators, “Golden Ball” and “FIFA The Best” are determined by the number of votes, including media representatives and fans. . Because the award has an “emotional” nature from such objective factors, Messi cannot be blamed or criticized.Messi is a talented player, a humble, simple, sociable person, that’s why even the players who have faced each other give Messi special affection through voting.
In the ballot list of national team captains in “FIFA The Best”, Kylian Mbappé (France, PSG), Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid), Federico Valverde (Uruguay, Real Madrid), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands, Liverpool), Jan Oblak (Slovenia, Atletico Madrid), Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool), Harry Kane (England, Bayern Munich)… all voted for Messi, even though they and Messi were rivals. directly at both national team and club levels.
Furthermore, if you count votes from fans, Messi also has an overwhelming number of votes with 613,000 votes, while Haaland only has 365,000 votes. Therefore, it is undisputed that Messi won the FIFA The Best 2023 award.
The success of a great player is not only about winning in football but also integrating other noble qualities. As captain of the Argentina team, Messi voted for his direct rival, Haaland, to be number 1, and Messi himself did not attend the tournament.
This shows that Messi always recognizes the success of others, even if they are direct competitors. Messi seems to have truly ceded the playing field and given honor to the younger generation next to him, and at the same time, he is completely no longer obsessed with titles after winning the World Cup.
Messi not only conquered the football world with his excellent skills but also conquered the world with his humility and sincerity. Messi has interpreted these values with his actions and has become a role model in the football world. His spirit not only inspires the players on the field but also serves as a positive example in the hearts of fans.
His talent on the field and noble personality have made Messi an idol in the hearts of fans around the world, especially in front of his opponents. When the majority of players have gone beyond the national team and club boundaries to acknowledge Messi’s “Great of all times” position in football history, Messi wins “FIFA The Best 2023” completely. worthy, similar to the previous “Golden Ball”.
