The lone Ballon d’Or voter from England disclosed his rationale for supporting Lionel Messi during the most recent awards ceremony.
On Monday evening, Lionel Messi achieved historic proportions by becoming the eighth recipient of the Ballon d’Or, surpassing both Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
Much controversy surrounded the question of whether Messi merited the award based solely on his accomplishments as Argentina’s victorious captain at the 2022 World Cup.
There are those who contend that Messi was favored on account of the likelihood that this is his final opportunity to receive the award.
Henry Winter of The Times, on the other hand, has suggested that his support for Messi was not motivated by “nostalgia,” but rather by the star’s outstanding performances for Inter Miami.
Lionel Messi, a celebrity from Argentina, won his eighth Ballon d’Or on Monday evening.
Some have speculated that Erling Haaland’s exclusion from Manchester City was regrettable.
Winter, writing for the newspaper, stated, “When evaluating and selecting candidates for the Ballon d’Or, considerable emphasis is inevitably placed on their performance in the Champions League and tournaments.”
“Trophy-winning is the objective of the game, and Messi’s performance in Qatar earned him first place and six points from this judge.” Messi was completely engrossed in the objective of securing the World Cup victory. Even Messi’s illustrious career, which has included four Champions Leagues, was in need of this Qatari idyll.
It was widely documented that Messi had yet to win a significant trophy throughout his career, prior to the December tournament of that year. That trophy was the World Cup.
Messi put an end to a lengthy drought of defeats with his national team by claiming the Copa America in 2021, which was preceding the World Cup the following year.
Winter continued, “By any metric, Messi was the most effective combatant in the most significant competition in sports.” ‘Indeed, Messi represents much more than mere statistics. He is interested in poetry.
“He is on the verge of exhibiting that phenomenal burst of speed that will elude a defender as skilled as Josko Gvardiol of Croatia in the semi-final at Lusail Stadium on December 13.”
At the conclusion of the tournament, Messi ranked second in scoring, tallied the most assists with one, and generated the most opportunities.
The World Cup victory of Lionel Messi at the conclusion of 2022 influenced the decisions of several electors.
The Inter Miami star stunned Josko Gvardiol of Croatia in a dominant performance.
Winter subsequently clarified that he placed Haaland of Manchester City in second place and Mbappe of PSG in third place, rather than Messi, in his contention for the championship.
“Haaland, whose industrial-scale plundering of goals (52) and trophies (the Treble) for Manchester City was phenomenal and earned him the football writers’ and PFA player of the year accolades in England, received second place and four points.”
Although falling short of the Ballon d’Or, Haaland emerged victorious in the Gerd Muller trophy by amassing the most goals scored by any player during the year.
Former PSG player Jerome Rothen characterized Lionel Messi’s victory as “disgraceful” and argued that the Norwegian was considerably more deserving of the trophy.