The Balon d’Or race is still on track as Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi are the top contenders for the award.
The Balon d’Or race is still on track as Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi are the top contenders for the award.
Erling Haaland is in the virtue of his prime, as the young 22 Norwegian player from Manchester City is winning his first trophies with the English club. Last year won the treble with Pep Guardiola’s team and also Player of the Year in the UEFA Champions League awards.
Nevertheless, Erling Haaland has a great opponent if he wants to win one of the most prestigious awards given by France Football magazine, Balon d’Or, as Messi is also one of the main nominees to win this year’s award. Although his numbers have reduced since his arrival to Inter Miami CF, we have to remember that he won the Qatar 2022 World Cup with the Argentinian National Team.
These were Messi’s words in an interview with Argentinian podcaster Miguel Granados, “The Ballon d’Or? Is a beautiful honor, but I was lucky to win everything in football. Champions Leagues, league titles, Copa America, World Cup… These are more important than the Ballon d’Or.”
Who will win Balon d’Or?
This 2023 Balon d’Or edition is set to be delivered on October 30th in the Chatelet Theatre in Paris, France. The jury is conformed by 100 journalists from all around the world. And the list is actually very long:
Josko Gvardiol, Andre Onana, Karim Benzema, Mohamed Salah, Bukayo Saka, Kevin De Bruyne, Jude Bellingham, Randal Kolo Muani, Bernardo Silva, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Nicolò Barella, Emiliano Martínez, Rúben Dias, Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard, Ilkay Gündogan, Yassine Bounou, Julián Álvarez, Vinicius Jr, Rodri, Antoine Griezmann, Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martínez, Robert Lewandowski, Kim Min-jae, Luka Modric, Kylian Mbappé, Victor Osimhen.
Lionel Messi stats have decreased since his arrival to the Major League Soccer, nevertheless, he still has achieved goals like winning the Leagues Cup in 2023 and the most prestigious trophy in football history, the World Cup.
While Erling Haaland is still making his stats grow, in the Premier League he already has seven goals made, but in UEFA Champions League has only one assist.