Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said he made a mistake when voting for the player to win The Best award in 2023, contributing to Erling Haaland missing out on this title.
Erling Haaland spent an impressive 2023 when he and Man City won the Premier League and FA Cup, especially the UEFA Champions League for the first time in history. However, the player who wins the FIFA The Best award in 2023 is Lionel Messi.
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez explained that he voted for midfielder Marcelo Brozovic to win The Best 2023 because he did not know whether his achievements at the 2022 World Cup would count or not.
Midfielder Brozovic experienced a successful 2022-2023 season, with Croatia finishing third at the 2022 World Cup, and with Inter Milan winning the Copa Italy, the Italian Super Cup, and reaching the UEFA Champions League final.
Sharing in A Bola newspaper (Portugal), coach Martinez said: “Voting for Brozovic was a mistake. Individual awards in football are very difficult, I think individual players represent the team.” .
Brozovic and Bernardo Silva are players who have reached the Champions League final and won domestic titles. Brozovic represents the success of the Croatian team in recent successes. However, I was confused with the voting period for the award.
I think I’m not the only one who made that mistake. When you see the votes, I think many people are also more interested in the World Cup performance.”
FIFA The Best 2023 considers achievements from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023, while Messi won the World Cup on December 18, 2022.
During this period, Messi played 37 matches, scored 26 goals and assisted 12 times for Paris Saint Germain, Argentina and Inter Miami. Meanwhile, Haaland shined with 36 goals in 44 matches, helping Man City win the great “treble” of the 2022-23 season.