Lionel Messi scored and assisted for fun.
The ongoing debate on whether or not Lionel Messi deserved the Ballon d’Or this year over Erling Haaland will probably go on for years to come. The head-to-head between the two for the award has arguably been one of the most divisive in recent years.
Champions League versus World Cup, Premier League versus Ligue 1 and PFA slash UEFA Men’s Player of the Year versus World Cup Golden Ball. It’s a tough call.
But, before you continue defending either argument of who should’ve taken the award home, we suggest you take a look at this video before moving forward. You won’t regret it.
Ballon d’Or worthy? Every Lionel Messi goal and assist in 2022-23
There’s quite a lot.
The running narrative against Lionel Messi’s eight Ballon d’Or win on social media usually comes down to singling the Argentine’s year to just “seven good games” during the World Cup. It’s a “fair” analysis considering Messi’s lackluster collective season with PSG.
However, and despite not making the expected impact with PSG across all competitions throughout the season, the 35-year-old had pretty impressive numbers.
After 54 games in the 2022-23 season, with both Argentina and PSG, Messi tallied a whopping 38 goals and 25 assists for a total of 63 goal contributions. All available for you to watch below.
A Messi le han dado el Balón de Oro por meter siete partidos.
Messi: pic.twitter.com/me1A1B5sAK— Balón o Barbarie (@BalonoBarbarie) November 2, 2023
The Ballon d’Or winner scored a goal every 126 minutes and provided a goal contribution every 76 minutes in his historic World Cup winning year.
He’s as magisterial as it gets.
Who should’ve won the Ballon d’Or: Messi or Haaland?
“Lionel Messi is the 2023 Ballon d’Or winner!” or “Erling Haaland is the 2023 Ballon d’Or winner!” — we would’ve been fine with both.
Stating that Haaland should’ve won this year’s Ballon d’Or over Messi is justifiable and in many perspectives, common sense. His record-breaking debut Premier League winning season, along with the historic treble for Manchester City and absurd stats across all club competitions is enough for any player in any year to win the award.
He’s a goalscoring machine that will very likely become a winner in the future.
Haaland absolutely shredded every opponent that stood in front of him and had one of the best individual seasons we’ve ever seen. However, making a case for a Haaland-Ballon-d’Or-winning-season in pair with discrediting Lionel Messi’s, should not be placed atop of the argument table.
Both players had historic years, topped off with some of the most important silverware the game has to offer. Haaland, unfortunately, just got the shorter end to the bipartisan Ballon d’Or race stick.
