Lionel Messi’s 8th Ballon d’Or win came as a joy to majority of the Football world, but the performance of other nominated candidates raised some questions on the credibility of the award yet again. One such doubter is famous British Journalist Piers Morgan who tweeted his opinion accusing the Ballon d’Or award to be rigged.
Why the Ballon d’Or 2023 controversy?
The main reason for controversy is the performance of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. Haaland and Mbappe are placed 2nd and 3rd in rankings respectively. Haaland scored 56 goals and had 9 assists in 57 matches and won the historic treble with Man City. Whereas, Kylian Mbappe has 54 goals and 13 assists in 56 matches. Erling Haaland was hence, widely believed to be the deserved winner over Lionel Messi.
Piers Morgan on Ballon d’Or 2023
Famous British Journalist Piers Morgan also commented on this saga opposing Leo Messi’s win. He added to the popular narrative that Messi’s win was undeserved. He wrote on X,
“Messi preposterously winning the Ballon d’Or this year is yet more proof that the whole ‘Golden Ball’ system is rigged.”
In addition to this, he went on to suggest that Messi should have won 2 less Ballon d’Ors and Cristiano Ronaldo should have won two more than his 5 Ballon d’Ors and Erling Haaland should be the deserved winner in 2023. He added,
“He should have won 2 fewer, @Cristiano should have won 2 more, and Haaland should have won this year. End.”
Cristiano’s reaction to Messi’s win
Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t reacted directly to Piers Morgan’s tweet, but he has reacted to Tomas Roncero claiming on Instagram that Messi has Ballon d’Ors of Xavi, Iniesta, Lewandowski and Haaland. Cristiano seemingly agreed to this and commented on this post with four laughing emojis. The Portuguese international hasn’t been nominated for the Ballon d’Or first time since 2003. Since he wasn’t nominated, the 38 years old forward wasn’t invited to the Ballon d’Or gala upsetting many football fans who expected the 5 times winner to be at least nominated in this year’s shortlist.
Follow us for more updates on Twitter.
