“Everything is wrong” and “NRK”… “FIFA scandal” the talk of the international press

Anwar Ibrahim (Cairo)

The selection of the legendary Argentine star, Lionel Messi, the American Inter Miami player, as the best player in the FIFA selections and his obtaining the “The Best” award, was not spared criticism and attacks from the European newspapers, especially the Norwegian ones, which were hoping for the Norwegian Erling Haaland to become a star. Manchester City is the top scorer after being equal in number of points with Messi, with 48 points, and he was only let down by the votes of the “captains” of the national teams and the public.
The European press talked about the scandal, and some described it as a “bad joke.”
The Norwegian newspapers had the strongest reaction to what happened because they were completely confident that Haaland was the most deserving of them. The headline of the newspaper “NRK” was: “It is truly a scandal,” while the newspaper “Verdens Gang” said on its website: Everything is wrong.
As for The Times, it wrote: A truly strange decision because this year’s award does not include the last World Cup won by the Argentine national team led by Messi, because the period allotted for granting this award is calculated from after the end of the last World Cup until last August 20, during which Messi did not achieve anything significant. .
The pro-Real Madrid Spanish newspaper Marca wrote: “Messi’s victory has made this award lose its credibility and the credibility of FIFA.” She added that the International Federation is the biggest loser this evening.
Among the old stars who expressed their strong dissatisfaction with this choice was German Lothar Matthäus, who won the 1990 Italian World Cup with the Manchester United, as he criticized Messi’s choice to win this award, and said: He has not won any major title, so how could he be chosen?!