England’s only Ballon d’Or voter has revealed his reasons for voting for Lionel Messi at the recent award ceremony.
On Monday night, Messi made history as he was awarded his eighth Ballon d’Or title after pipping Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to the accolade.
There was much debate as to whether Messi deserved to claim the award solely for his performances in the 2022 World Cup, where he captained Argentina to victory.
Some have suggested that Messi was favored due to the fact it will, likely, be the last time that he can win the award.
However, The Times’ Henry Winter has suggested that his voting for Messi was not for ‘nostalgia’ and, rather, because of the Inter Miami star’s impressive performances
Writing for the newspaper, Winter said: ‘In assessing and selecting the Ballon d’Or, inevitably much weight is placed on success in the Champions League and in tournaments.
‘The game is about trophies, and Messi’s performance in Qatar sealed first place and six points from this judge. Messi was on a mission out there, absolutely driven with the obsession of winning the World Cup. Messi’s career, even one as glittering as him, with four Champions Leagues, needed this nirvana in Qatar’.
England’s only Ballon d’Or voter has revealed his reasons for voting for Lionel Messi at the recent award ceremony.
On Monday night, Messi made history as he was awarded his eighth Ballon d’Or title after pipping Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to the accolade.
There was much debate as to whether Messi deserved to claim the award solely for his performances in the 2022 World Cup, where he captained Argentina to victory.
Some have suggested that Messi was favored due to the fact it will, likely, be the last time that he can win the award.
However, The Times’ Henry Winter has suggested that his voting for Messi was not for ‘nostalgia’ and, rather, because of the Inter Miami star’s impressive performances.
Winter later explained that he chose for Manchester City’s Haaland in second and PSG’s Mbappe in third, after putting Messi forward for the title.
‘I gave second place, and four points, to Haaland, whose industrial-scale plundering of goals (52) and trophies (the Treble) for Manchester City were phenomenal and brought him the football writers’ and PFA player of the year honors in England ‘.
Haaland narrowly missed out on winning the Ballon d’Or but still mentioned the Gerd Muller trophy after scoring the most goals out of any player in the year.
Former PSG player Jerome Rothen said Messi’s triumph was ‘disgraceful’ and that the Norwegian was far more deserving of the award.