Tuesday – 7 Shaaban 1444 AH – 28 February 2023 AD Issue Number [16163]
Paris: «Asharq Al-Awsat»
Argentine Lionel Messi is competing with Frenchmen Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema for the FIFA World Player of the Year 2022 award, which will be decided today.
Messi and his colleague in Paris Saint-Germain Mbappe will face another confrontation, but of a different type, after what happened last December, when Argentina crowned the Qatar World Cup at the expense of the French star and his colleagues in the 2018 champions “roosters”, while Benzema was absent. About the global forum.
The nominations are in favor of Messi, who previously won the title of “the best” in 2019 in this award, which FIFA returned to award in 2016, after separating from the Golden Ball award awarded by “France Football” magazine.
Benzema (Reuters)
Messi, who won the Golden Ball award 7 times in a record achievement, was previously found on the podium of the FIFA ceremony, but he contented himself with watching the Polish Robert Lewandowski win the title on both occasions, while the Argentine settled for third place in 2020, behind his Portuguese rival Cristiano Ronaldo and the runner-up in 2021. In front of the Egyptian Mohamed Salah.
But the 35-year-old’s coronation of the world title in the World Cup in Qatar, which was the first for Argentina since 1986, strengthened his chances to be the best for 2022 in this race, which is decided by the votes of coaches and leaders of all national teams and a journalist from each country, in addition to the fans.
Like Messi, Mbappe made wonderful world finals, finishing top scorer with eight direct goals against his Argentine colleague, including a hat-trick in the final that made him the second player to score a “hat-trick” in the title match after England’s Jeff Hurst in 1966.
Mbappe (AP)
But the penalty shootout failed him in the end and prevented the player, who celebrated his 24th birthday two days after the final, from following in the footsteps of the late Brazilian legend Pele, who was crowned champion in 1958 and 1962 when he was 17 and 21 years old, although he finished the next edition with an injury.
Former Dutch star Ruud Gullit said, “Messi has the greatest chance of winning the award (best player) because he won the World Cup.”
The Dutch Ballon d’Or winner was talking about the Argentine in the context of his role as a member of the Laureus Awards Academy for Sports Excellence, which included Messi and Mbappe among the candidates to win it.
But Gullit, the former Italian Milan star, added: “However, I respect Mbappe a lot. For me he is on the same level (of Messi). It is amazing what he did in the final and that he took this responsibility.
Benzema will be the third party in the struggle for the title of “the best”, after winning the Golden Ball from “France Football” for the first time and the Champions League title for the fifth time in his career last year.
However, the chances of the Spanish Real Madrid star diminished after the injury prevented him from participating in the Qatar World Cup, which may make the 44 goals he scored in 46 matches with the Royal Club last season, insufficient for the 35-year-old to compete with Messi and Mbappe for the prestigious award.
In the women’s world, the Spanish Alexia Potillas, the defending champion, the English Beth Mead, and the American Alexis Morgan compete for the “Best” award.
Among the coaches, the Argentine Lionel Scaloni, winner of the Qatar World Cup 2022, the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid coach who won the European Champions League, and the Spaniard Josep Guardiola (Manchester City, England) are competing.
As for the women’s category, the competition is limited to French Sonia Bompastor, who won the European Champions League with Lyon, Swedish coach Pia Sundhage, Brazil coach, and Dutchman Sarina Wegman, who was crowned European champion in 2022 with the England national team.
The competition for the Puskas Award for the best goal will be between the French trio, Dimitri Payet, the Marseille player (against PAOK Thessaloniki, Greece), the Brazilian Richarlison (against Serbia in the Qatar World Cup), and the Polish Marcin Oleksi, the Varta Poznani player (against Stal Gishov).
