Gold thief, a controversial journalist disowned Messi for his Ballon d'Or

Lionel Messi achieved the incredible achievement of having won his Ballon d'Or number 8. With the first one, which was achieved in 2009, Messi began a legendary feat that allowed him to achieve a milestone that will be difficult to match. Before this year's edition, Josep Guardiola had said that there should be a prize only for Messi and another for others to compete. The Catalan coach's statements had a special impact because, although he was a mentor to Messi, he currently manages Erling Haaland, who was one of the main contenders to win the award.

However, number 10 left the Norwegian in second place and Kylian Mbappé in third, whose greatest achievement was the exceptional performance he had in Qatar 2022, where he won runner-up. Other stars had already spoken out in favor of giving the award to Messi. However, one of the most striking came from a teammate of 'Donatello' in the French National Team, with which they lost to Argentina in Doha.

“Who won the World Cup? Many times this is how things happen. Furthermore, Messi played a very important role in the victory, so I think Leo will win the Ballon d'Or”, Olivier Giroud commented on Telefoot, which was in the same sense as what Ronaldo Nazario had said. "The Ballon d'Or should go to Lionel Messi, without a doubt. What he did in the World Cup was special. It reminded me of the campaigns of Pelé and Maradona," the Brazilian had commented on TNT Sports.

The character who provokes with Messi

Álvaro Morales gained importance during the last World Cup for having criticized Messi excessively and in any situation, even in the moments of success of the captain individually and of the Argentine National Team in general. One of their arguments was that the Albiceleste “stole” the World Cup. Now he reappeared on Twitter with a similar argument and treated Messi as a “gold thief”, after the Inter Miami forward had won his eighth Ballon d'Or. Despite the fact that there have already been several provocations by the nationalized Mexican, Messi never entered his game.