Reports indicate that Argentine star Lionel Messi will win the Ballon d’Or for the eighth time in his history, in an unprecedented record.
Messi’s most prominent competitor
As for the most prominent candidate to compete with Messi, he is the Norwegian scorer Erling Haaland, who excelled last season and led his Manchester City team to a historic treble, namely the English League and Cup titles, and the European Champions League, and also won the European Golden Shoe award.
To a lesser extent, there is competition for the award from Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, who was one of the most prominent players in the 2022 World Cup with France, and narrowly lost the final to Argentina, as well as Manchester City star, Belgian Kevin De Bruyne, who shone with Manchester City during the “treble” career.
scandal
Former English Premier League legend, Frenchman Thierry Henry, described Messi’s winning of the award as a “scandal”, due to the achievement of Manchester City’s stars.
Henry said: “I understand that Messi winning the World Cup is a huge thing, but the focus should be on a team that won the treble, and what Haaland did for this achievement with his records. He deserves the Ballon d’Or. If Haaland does not get it, it is a scandal.”
Party time
The concert will be held at the Theater du Chatelet in the French capital, Paris, at 8:30 pm local time, Monday evening.
List of candidates
Last September, France Football magazine revealed the list of players nominated for the Ballon d’Or for Best Player for last season.
The list included, as expected, Argentine star Lionel Messi, Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, Manchester City striker, and French Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe..
The most prominent players on the list are the Egyptian Liverpool player Mohamed Salah, in addition to Karim Benzema, the former Spanish Real Madrid player and the current Saudi Al-Ittihad player..
Manchester City players Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva were also on the list, as well as rising English star Jude Bellingham, who currently plays for Real Madrid. The most notable absentee from the list was Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, the Saudi Al-Nasr player..
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