Messi overwhelms Haaland in 2023 Ballon d'Or, can Ronaldo say "give" the award?

The newly revealed QBV 2023 vote results show that Messi won convincingly against Haaland but also had 3 special votes that caused a stir. Asked if he was the best player in history, he had an admirable answer.

This year's Ballon d'Or award ceremony has been going on for 4 days, many football fans are still eager to know how many points Messi is ahead of Haaland in the end to win the 8th Ballon d'Or in his career?

Not letting everyone wait long, the tournament organizers finally announced the specific number of voting points of the candidates. In addition, votes from 100 journalists from countries around the world were also revealed to ensure transparency.

Specifically, the Argentine superstar brought home a score of 462, 105 points ahead of Erling Haaland - who finished second. Meanwhile, the 3rd ranked person - Mbappe, has 270 points, which is 87 points behind the Norwegian striker. Kevin de Bruyne finished 4th with 100 points while Rodri only had 70 points, ranked 5th.

Despite Haaland's agent saying Messi had "stolen" his client's Ballon d'Or, former player Lothar Matthaus thought the Argentina superstar didn't deserve it and Ronaldo amused the "smiley-face" comment on the post mocking him for being "given" the title,... No. 10 is really dominant in this year's race.

Not to mention, Messi was voted No. 1 by 65 out of 100 journalists, while Haaland only got 21. This also partly reflects the marginal victory that the Argentine superstar owns. With the above result, the Inter Miami captain also became the first player in history to win more than 4,000 points from the Ballon d'Or voting.

However, there is still controversy, buzz in 3 votes from football journalists representing the country in the Top 3 winners. The first surprise was that the vote came from the French journalist (Vincent Garcia of France Football), he did not vote for his hometown (Kylian Mbappe) to win the Ballon d'Or, but instead named Haaland and Messi ranked 3rd.

The journalist from Norway of course voted Haaland as No. 1 and Messi was behind it. The most stirring is the vote of Argentine football journalist (Enrique Quique Wolff from ESPN), with the top 5 only 1 name besides tango but not Haaland, respectively: Messi, Julian Alvarez, Mbappe, Emiliano Martinez and Lisandro Martinez.

Immediately, football fans mocked Enrique's voting, claiming that he was ridiculously biased, when the Top 5 had 4 Argentine players, the only outsider chose not Haaland but Mbappe,...

Currently, Lionel Messi is the record holder with 8 times winning the Golden Ball, an achievement that can be said to be rarely surpassed. Speaking after the ceremony earlier this week, he admitted to feeling lucky to have accomplished all the goals set in the football village.

The Argentine superstar also thinks that the title is likely to be the last Ballon d'Or of his career. The 36-year-old also predicts Haaland, Mbappe and other young stars will rise to win this award in the future.

Notably, after the award ceremony, a reporter asked Messi if he thought he was the greatest player in history. To this question, the Inter Miami captain gave an answer described by Talk Sport as "very humble".

"As I always say, I don't know if I'm the best player in history. That's not something I really care about. If I had been said to be one of the best players, it would have been an honour for me.

Football is a sport played by everyone, anywhere and at any age. Every kid aspires to become a professional footballer. Therefore, to become one of the greatest players in everyone's eyes has been a great joy for me," Messi said.

This sincere word of the Argentine superstar immediately attracted attention from a large number of fans. They praised the humility and said the 36-year-old's response also showed respect for past football legends.

"With what he has done, Messi can pat his chest to call himself the greatest player in history. He didn't, though. Messi has always been a humble man," one online user wrote.

After setting an unprecedented record, Messi also officially said goodbye to European football, watching with Ronaldo (who went to Asia to play football) to end his years-long dominance in this noble individual title. And the award itself marks a new milestone, with UEFA (co-hosting the title) from next year (2024).

The Messi family attracted attention again while his father "flexed" the 8th Ballon d'Or, Ronaldo had the opportunity to "revenge" Snow1 year agoAfter being honored on stage at the awards ceremony in France, Lionel Messi has just worn the 2023 Ballon d'Or to show off to members of Inter Miami's youth team, including Prince Thiago.