Messi NOT better than Ronaldo or Mbappe - France boss Deschamps

Cameron Smith

Updated: 31 Oct 2023 18:32 GMT
3 min read

Lionel Messi, Inter Miami, 2023/24 — © ProShots

France national team manager Didier Deschamps does not believe that Inter Miami star Lionel Messi is the outright best football player in history.

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The Barcelona legend won his eighth Ballon d’Or on Monday evening in Paris after guiding Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar last year.

In the process, Messi extended his lead at the top of the all-time Ballon d’Or standings, with the forward now holding an advantage of three over his closest challenger Cristiano Ronaldo.

The former Real Madrid star has five Ballon d’Or wins, with his most recent coming in 2017.

However, France boss Deschamps doesn’t think that Messi has done enough to be placed ahead of Ronaldo or Kylian Mbappe in the all-time standings.

What has been said?

Deschamps told Futbol Picante: “The Argentinians [say that Messi is the best of all time]. He is one of them, but it is difficult to say that Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo or Kylian Mbappé, who is younger.”

© ProShots - Kylian Mbappe is one of the favourites for the 2024 Ballon d'Or

While Ronaldo has five Ballon d’Or wins to his name and Messi has eight, Mbappe is yet to stand on the top step of the podium.

The Paris Saint-Germain star finished in third place in the 2023 Ballon d’Or, behind Messi and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland. That was his best finishing position to date, but he was still unable to topple Argentine legend Messi despite scoring a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final.

Mbappe is still only 24 years old, meaning he has several years left to win the Ballon d’Or, although matching Messi’s tally of eight triumphs may be very tricky given the competition he is likely to face in the coming years.

After winning the award in Paris, Messi admitted that Mbappe is one of several stars who will be in contention for the Ballon d’Or in future seasons.

“There is a generation of players that can compete in the coming years,” Messi told L’Equipe. "There are the cases of [Erling] Haaland, [Kylian] Mbappé, Vinicius [Junior]. I don’t know, there are many young people.

“Lamine [Yamal], who is now very young and is already playing at Barcelona and being important will play a prominent role and fight for it in the future too. There are always good players. A very nice stage is coming for us to enjoy.”