The soccer world sees many rises and falls in a calendar year. Many players play exceptionally well for their nation and club so that they are adjudged with the Ballon d’Or award.
Lionel Messi tops the awardees list with 7 of those. However, Juventus midfielder, Adrien Rabiot has insisted Lionel Messi will not win this year’s Ballon d’Or, even after he won the World Cup with Argentina, defeating Rabiot’s French team in the grand final.
Adrien Rabiot doesn’t think Lionel Messi is a Ballon d’Or contender 😳 pic.twitter.com/QqgiE70MIw
— GOAL (@goal) October 12, 2023
Messi fulfilled his fantasy of lifting the World Cup trophy by driving Argentina to the title in Qatar. The 35-year-old’s magnificent exhibitions for the Albiceleste procured him the competition’s Golden Ball after an undeniably exhilarating final against France.
This puts Lionel Messi in an undeniable debate about winning the coveted Ballon d’Or award. But the French midfielder has some other views.
Rabiot believes the former Barcelona star is not the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or. “I hear a lot of people saying Messi will win it,” he said to RMC Sport. “But on a sporting level, it will be between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.”, he added.
Rabiot also said that it would be difficult to choose one between the Frenchman and Norweigan, but he’ll ‘exclude everyone else’ from the debate around the Ballon d’Or.
No one deserves the Ballon d’Or more than Leo Messi 🇦🇷🐐 pic.twitter.com/rglwtfmkiR
— Sara 🦋 (@SaraFCBi) October 7, 2023
As per the bookmakers, Messi is the top possibility to win the Ballon d’Or this year. The renowned honor would be Messi’s ideal goodbye to top-level soccer as he spends the last long stretches of his profession at Inter Miami. This would also be the end of the more than decade-long Messi-Ronaldo saga in the soccer world.
The statistics behind Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe’s contention for the Ballon d’Or
The 2022-23 soccer season had been phenomenal for both Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. Both the forwards bagged plenty of goals and assists and helped their clubs and national teams achieve various achievements.
Kylian Mbappé’s 2022/23 Season:
– Most G+A & Topscorer Overall
– Most G+A & Topscorer in the World Cup
– Most G+A & Topscorer in the UCL Group Stage
– Most G+A & Topscorer in Ligue 1
– Top 2 Player in the World Cup
– Best Player in the UCL Group Stage
– Best Player in Ligue 1 pic.twitter.com/V8DmKQMgQ4— Mihir / IG: @mihirrao24 & @mihirfooty10 (@pelesburner) June 20, 2023
The French forward Kylian Mbappe enjoyed an excellent past year at both club and international level for PSG and France. He scored 41 goals and registered 10 assists in 43 games across competitions, winning his sixth Ligue 1 title with the Parisians.
He was a pivotal part of France’s dramatic comeback in the 2022 World Cup final, as he equalized for France scoring 2 goals.
Although France lost the World Cup final, courtesy of a Messi masterclass, Kylian Mbappe scored a splendid hat trick in the match. He eventually went on to win the Golden Boot with 8 goals in 7 World Cup games.
👏 Erling Haaland in 2022/23:
🏅 ManCity POTY
🏅 UCL Top Scorer
🏅 UCL TOTS
🏅 PL POTM [x2]
🏅 PL Golden Boot
🏅 PL YPOTS
🏅 PL POTS
🏅 PL POTY
🏅 FWA FOTY
🏅 IFFHS Men’s World Team
🏅 PFA Team of the Year
🏅 PFA Players’ Player of the Year
🏅 UEFA Men’s POTY✅Balon D’or? 🔜 pic.twitter.com/MiP385nKvm
— City Chief (@City_Chief) August 31, 2023
Erling Haaland, on the other hand, demolished all records at the club level. He was the center of attraction of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City setup who won the treble in the 2022-23 season.
The treble included the Champions League, FA Cup, and Premier League. He scored 52 goals in 53 games. This included 36 goals in a single Premier League season, breaking the previous record of 34, set by both Alan Shearer and Mohammad Salah.
It seems to be a neck-to-neck competition between these 3 players for the Golden Ball. Only time will tell who is going to lift the trophy, as the Ballon d’Or ceremony is set to be held on October 30, 2023.