Haaland robbed! Messi's Ballon d'Or victory is 'a farce'
Tom Weber
- 31 Oct 2023 11:28 CDT
- 4 min read
1990 World Cup winner Lothar Matthäus has labelled the Ballon d'Or voting "a farce" after Lionel Messi once again came out on top.
The Argentine won his record eighth Ballon d'Or after beating out stiff competition from Kylian Mbappe and 56-goal man Erling Haaland. Whether Messi truly deserved the award is certainly up for debate.
While the Inter Miami star led his country to their first World Cup triumph in over 30 years, his achievements at the club level were not comparable to those of Haaland. The Norwegian sharpshooter fired Man City to a historic treble in 2022/23, breaking every conceivable goalscoring record along the way.
READ: What Bellingham must do to win the 2024 Ballon d'Or
Haaland will be one of the favourites for next year's award, alongside Jude Bellingham and Mbappe, and it is highly unlikely that Messi will win another Ballon d'Or in his career, but Germany legend Lothar Matthäus was nevertheless furious about the 2023 ceremony and the results of the voting.
What did Matthäus say?
Speaking on Sky Germany, Matthäus said: "Over the entire past year, Haaland performed better than Messi. It is unmerited that Messi won. But that just goes to show that the World Cup matters more than anything else."
"To me," he continued, "Haaland is the best player of the past 12 months, having won important titles with Man City and broken goalscoring records in the process. You just can't look past Haaland. The voting is a farce, and I say that as a fan of Messi."
READ: Lionel Messi backs Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal for Ballon d'Or glory
Matthäus, of course, knows a thing or two about winning the Ballon d'Or. Germany's record appearance maker received the award in 1990 off the back of a ridiculous year that included winning the World Cup and the UEFA Cup with Inter. Napoli legend Diego Maradona once famously described Matthäus as the best rival he had throughout his career.
