Race for the Golden Ball 2023: Messi vs Haaland – Who Will Win?

2023-06-11 20:16:14

Victorious on Saturday evening in the Champions League with Manchester City, following having already won the Premier League and the FA Cup this season, Erling Haaland has repositioned himself in the race for the Golden Ball. Some bookmakers even make him the new favorite, ahead of Lionel Messi.

What if the next edition of the Ballon d’Or was much more uncertain than expected? While the 2022-2023 season in Europe experienced its last highlight on Saturday evening with the Champions League final, won by Manchester City once morest Inter Milan (1-0), the result of the poster may – be reshuffled for the election of the best player in the world. If we are to believe the bookmakers, it will in any case be very disputed.

By browsing the various platforms already offering to bet on the identity of the future winner, and by watching online comparators, we see that two names emerge widely: Lionel Messi, and Erling Haaland. While most make the Argentinian the slight favourite, just ahead of the Norwegian, some sites are starting to give Skyblues’ Cyborg the lowest rating, despite his lackluster performance in Istanbul. The dynamic is even clearly in its favour.

One spring, two atmospheres

A few months ago, at the end of the World Cup, Lionel Messi seemed to be a winner in advance. Because his name is Lionel Messi, which is already worth points in the eyes of a certain number of voters, because he had had a good first part of the season with PSG, and obviously because he had Argentina on the roof of the football planet, winning at 35 the last major title that it lacked. In short, everything seemed written. But since then, things have changed.

First, Messi had a rather lackluster second half of the season with Paris (to put it mildly). Then Haaland, who was already shattering goalscoring records across the Channel, began to fill his trophy cabinet. The 22-year-old striker, who will probably never have the technical qualities of his eldest, made his finish speak for himself to end the season with 52 goals in 53 games, with a Premier League, a FA Cup in the bag. , and therefore a Champions League. And difficult to blame him for his record at the World Cup, insofar as the latter did not dispute it … What to create the sensation in the fall? This is the big question.

De Bruyne rather than Mbappé on the podium?

If some hoped to see Kylian Mbappé succeed Karim Benzema, it seems complicated. According to the bookmakers, once more. Despite a remarkable World Cup with the Blues, and a successful season at PSG on an individual level (41 goals in 43 games), the French striker is undoubtedly paying for his club’s spring wanderings, and now sees himself relegated far from the previously cited duo in terms of ratings. Most of the time, Mbappé is even today put at the same height as Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid), and finds himself outstripped by another Manchester City player: Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian might thus be the third man on the podium of the 2023 edition, even if he might pay the price for a dispersion of votes – Haaland being the headliner of City.

The next Ballon d’Or – which now rewards the best player over a season, and no longer a calendar year – will be awarded on October 30 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Before that, the names of the 30 named players will be announced on September 6. The jury has since last year been reduced to 100 voters, journalists from the 100 first nations in the Fifa ranking ( once morest 170 previously), and the award criteria reviewed. The “individual performances” and the “decisive and impressive character of the contenders” will be the number one criterion, ahead of “the collective aspect and the trophies won” and “the player’s class and his sense of fair play”.

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