Lionel Messi’s words to Haaland after winning the 2023 Ballon d’Or
Lionel Messi and Haaland
Lionel Messi was awarded as the best player of the 2022-23 season and won the 2023 Ballon d’Or. The Argentine striker from Inter Miami surpassed the young Norwegian in the votes and won the award for best footballer of this season. Messi won the 2022 World Cup and had an extremely important record by being the most decisive player today with his national team. However, many were asking for the Ballon d’Or for Haaland, who won the Premier League and Champions League last season.
The Argentine forward was positioned as the great candidate to win the award and in the end, he could have been the winner, something that everyone present had no hesitation in recognizing with a standing ovation at the end. Messi won his long-awaited 2022 World Cup with his country and now, he is the first footballer to win 8 Ballon d’Ors. Messi has established himself as the top winner of this competition.
After receiving the award, Lionel Messi gave a nostalgic speech where he talked about Diego Maradona, whose birthday is today. “Today is his birthday. There is no better place to wish him a happy birthday, surrounded by great players and coaches… wherever you are, this is for you, I share it with you,” Messi said about the 2023 Ballon d’Or. Messi closes a great career in Europe, the Argentine is placing himself in an important way in the MLS and it seems that he will end his career in the United States.
What did Messi say about Mbappe and Haaland?
“I have no doubt that Haaland and Kylian in the coming years will win this award. I’m going to enjoy good football for a long time because of the kind of players I see tonight. The players are renewed but the level never drops,” said Lionel Messi when seeing Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland present at the ceremony that recognizes the best footballer in the world in the 2022-23 season. For many, Mbappe and Haaland are the next two dominators of world football.