"Messi hasn't won anything important", this German star disagrees with The Best

This week was held in London the ceremony of The Best, the award that FIFA delivers since 2016 to compete with France Football's Ballon d'Or. There, the winners of the different categories were announced, such as the ideal team of the year (with a clear supremacy of the Treble-winners Manchester City), best goalkeeper (Ederson) and best coach (Pep Guardiola).

More news about The Best:

Why did Messi win The Best if he received the same amount of votes as Haaland?

The most important award, obviously, is the best player of the year. There, most believed that the Citizens had the advantage and that Erling Haaland would be the winner thanks to his success with the English side during the 2022/23 season. However, something unexpected happened: Lionel Messi got the same amount of points as him and won The Best award because he was voted by more players than Erling.

This surprised many and caused comments of all kinds. Some believe that the Norwegian striker should have been the winner, as his team had a much better year than Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami, the clubs Leo played for in 2023. One of those who think so is Lothar Matthaus, the former Germany and Bayern Munich star, who said on Sky Sports: "If you don't include the World Cup, which made Messi the Ballon d'Or winner, Messi shouldn't be the winner this time. I think he has been the best footballer of the last 20 years, but he hasn't won any major titles with Paris Saint Germain and Inter Miami."

Then he singled out Erling: "If you look at the big successes, there is nothing to envy Haaland. He won the most important titles with Manchester City and his goal percentage was impressive. That should be the deciding factor when it comes to choosing the best and most important player, and that was Haaland."

More news about Inter Miami:

"I like them" Suarez's response to criticism after his arrival at Inter Miami

Leo outdid everyone

Lionel Messi is the highest winner of the Ballon d'Or (8) and now also of The Best. He received the trophy for the third time in his professional career (the previous ones were in 2019 and 2022), surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo (2016 and 2017) and Robert Lewandowski (2020 and 2021), who had won it twice. Luka Modric is the other player to receive it, in 2018.