Lionel Messi secured another illustrious Ballon d’Or award extending his tally of golden balls to a record eight titles on Monday evening in the French capital, Paris. The Argentine star surpassed probable contenders Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, who finished behind him in the race.
After collecting his award and delivering the winning speech, Messi acknowledged his fellow competitors with a heartfelt message, naming Haaland, Mbappé, and Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. as future Ballon d’Or winners.
Lionel Messi names Real Madrid player as Ballon d’Or contender
In the past decade, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were the two names that dominated the award, with Messi securing his eighth title, stretching his lead against his Portuguese rival Cristiano Ronaldo by three more in his cabinet.
This could be the last time the Argentine lifts this award, with new generational stars coming into the competition for the prestigious accolade, such as Manchester City star Erling Haaland and French superstar Kylian Mbappe, who finished in 2nd and 3rd place behind Messi.
Apart from these two, Messi believes Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr as one of the future Ballon d’Or winners. Brazilian winger received the Socrates Award for off-pitch noble causes and contributions to underprivileged children in his native Brazil.
Vinicius Jr himself has been the victim of racism recently in Spain and pledged to continue his fight against racism in his acceptance speech. Moreover, he finished 6th in the Ballon Dor and was the only Brazilian in the top 10 list this year.
Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe both send love to Lionel Messi
Norwegian international and prolific goal scorer for Manchester City, Erling Haaland, had an impressive treble-winning season, the first in the club’s history. Finishing as the top scorer in both the Premier League and Champions League with 52 goals in total wasn’t enough to surpass Messi and claim the Ballon d’Or 2023.
PSG star Kylian Mbappé had an exceptional club season as well as an outstanding individual performance in the World Cup. He even led his national team to the World Cup final scoring a hat-trick, but lost to Argentina in extra time, finishing below Messi and Haaland in the best player award rankings.
Despite losing their maiden Golden Ball award to the World Cup winner, Lionel Messi, both Haaland and Mbappé congratulated the Inter Miami star on his achievement and posted Instagram stories while Messi named both of these stars as future awardees in his winning speech.
