For this year’s Ballon d’Or, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola must choose between star attacker Erling Haaland and his adored former player Lionel Messi.
Following their outstanding 2022–23 seasons, Haaland and Messi are the early favorites for the prize. In contrast to the latter, who established himself as probably the greatest player in history with his talismanic feats on Argentina’s path to the FIFA World Cup victory, the former helped Man City achieve the triple by scoring 52 goals in 53 games.
Messi is vying for a record-breaking ninth Ballon d’Or, while Haaland is attempting to win his first. This Monday, the Barcelona-based daily SPORT published a story predicting the success of Inter Miami, but it was quickly taken down.
Guardiola was asked who, out of two of his all-time favorite players, should get the award with the event just around the horizon.
“The Ballon d’Or should be two sections – one for Messi, and one for the other players,” he said at a press conference on Friday.
“Haaland should win, yes, we won the treble and he scored 50, I don’t know, million goals. But of course, if you tell me the worst Messi season? That’s the best for the rest of the players. Both deserve it, what can I say?
“Egotistically I would say Erling because he helped us achieve what we achieved. I would love it. But if Leo wins, they won the World Cup. It’s nice so many players from Man City will be there for the first time in many years and challenging. That makes us so proud.”
Messi won the Ballon d’Or three times while playing for Barcelona under Guardiola from 2008 to 2012, but after joining Inter Miami, he has moved on to a new project for the latter stages of his career.
Messi has had a significant impact on Florida, as seen by Miami’s record when he is in the lineup vs when he is injured. The 36-year-old was also instrumental in the Herons’ Leagues Cup victory, which was the first trophy for the team as a whole, and their defeat in the US Open Cup final.