Guardiola wants Ballon d’Or for Messi and Haaland (IAN KINGTON)
Lionel Messi or Erling Haaland? Pep Guardiola is torn as to which of the two exceptional footballers he would award the prestigious Ballon d’Or. The Manchester City team manager therefore made a suggestion that was probably not entirely serious.
“I’ve always said that the Ballon d’Or should be awarded in two parts, one for Messi and one for the other, so Haaland should win, yes,” said Guardiola, who recognized the qualities of both world-class players like no other knows. He used to coach Messi at FC Barcelona and currently Haaland at City.
Messi will be given a great chance at the Golden Ball award ceremony on October 16 at the Theater du Chatelet in Paris after winning the World Cup title in Qatar. However, Haaland also has very good arguments with his 52 goals in 53 games, with which he led City to the treble last season.
“Both deserve it, so what can I say,” Guardiola asked, adding: “From a selfish point of view, I would say that I want Erling because he helped us achieve what we achieved, I would love it, but I won’t say it’s unfair if Leo wins.” The worst season for Messi was “the best for the rest of the players”.
The Ballon d’Or has been awarded annually since 1956 by the specialist magazine France Football. The winner was initially considered “Europe’s Footballer of the Year”, but since 2007 the world’s best kicker has been chosen in competition with FIFA’s World Footballer’s Choice (since 1991). From 2010 to 2015, the newspaper and the world association cooperated on the world footballer’s freestyle, and since 2016 two different prizes have been awarded.
The shortlist of 30 footballers also includes two German national players: Ilkay Gündogan from FC Barcelona and Jamal Musiala from Bayern Munich.
2023-10-21 04:37:40
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