Whatever Lionel Messi does turns to gold. He is not just in the debate for the greatest ever footballer, but also as the greatest cloth folder of all time as fans wants him to win the ‘Laun d’Or’ and not just the Ballon d’Or.
Fans are rooting for Messi to win this new prize
Recently during an Inter Miami press conference, Messi folded an Inter Miami shirt, and the video was circulated on Twitter, as usual, fans were in awe after seeing Lionel Messi’s immaculate and precise way of folding a shirt.
Somebody said, “If this guy doesn’t win the L’aun d’Or this year it’s essentially a crime”. Seems like everyone on Twitter these days is a wordsmith in their own right.
Don’t know about the L’aun d’Or but it seems like the 8th Ballon d’Or is on the way for La Pulga after his World Cup heroics. Messi is the bookmaker’s favorite to win the coveted prize, ahead of the likes of treble winners, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bryune.
Let’s take a deeper look and see who should win this year without being biased.
Messi and Haaland: Clear favorites for the 2023 Ballon d’Or
Firstly and very clearly, this year it’s between two people, the little boy from Rosario and the tremendous Nordic Meatshield. Yes, Messi and Haaland.
Kevin Debryun was good too, with 16 Premier League assists and 7 Champions League assists. In both cases, it was the highest by a player in those respective competitions. However, that’s not enough as his Belgium side was knocked out of the group stage and he wasn’t as good as the other two. So Kevin gets the bronze medal.
Now coming back to Messi, he has got the World Cup, the most prestigious honor you can get in football. Nothing comes remotely close. He was awarded the best player in that tournament and fell short of the Golden Boot, thanks to Mbappe’s World Cup final hat trick.
But is one trophy, no matter how big it is, enough to win the Ballon d’Or? It’s only a 2-month tournament and Ballon d’Or is judged on a 1-year calendar basis. Also, Neuer won the World Cup back in 2014 but lost the Ballon d’Or to Cristiano Ronaldo who had a fantastic goal-scoring record that year.
So we have to see what Messi did for PSG. Messi in his final year as a PSG player won the Ligue One title but failed to win the Champions League and Coupe De France, the latter being the only silverware he hasn’t won in his illustrious career. The Champions League particularly was a disaster as PSG were knocked off by Bayern Munich at the round of 16.
Although he scored 16 goals and provided 16 assists, the highest assist provider in Ligue One, last season. He also found his way through Ligue One’s team of the year. Not a bad club season by any means.
Haaland on the other hand is far from human. His Country, Norway, didn’t qualify for the World Cup so let’s keep that aside. His club performance was mental.
Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup. He won it all. Man City’s first-ever Champions League wait is over thanks to this man who clearly made the difference.
He scored 36 goals in his first season in the premier league, the highest in that season. He scored 12 UCL goals, the highest in that season. What more do you need?
On one hand, there is a World Cup Winner, on the other hand, you have a Treble winner. Messi winning it will mark the end of a glorious chapter. Seeing Haaland win will mark the start of a new era. In simple words, whoever wins will be fair as they have proven themselves on the biggest stage.
In final words, Lionel Messi doesn’t care about the Ballon d’Or, as he recently said in an interview that individual awards don’t bother him anymore, however, he might like the L’aun d’Or as he has not been validated yet with an award for his immaculate cloth folding skills. Also, winning the L’aun d’Or will surely make his trophy cabinet complete.