“The greatest of all time” – Fans react as Lionel Messi wins his 8th Ballon d’Or after a successful World Cup-winning campaign with Argentina

Lionel Messi wins his 8th Ballon d'Or, 3 more than Cristiano Ronaldo.

“The greatest of all time” – Fans react as Lionel Messi wins his 8th Ballon d’Or after a successful World Cup-winning campaign with Argentina

David Beckham hands the prize to Lionel Messi- the Ballon d'Or winner of 2023. (Source: Sky Sports

After a successful campaign for Argentina at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Lionel Messi had ideally been the favorite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or. The only played that came close in terms of statistics and achievements was Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland.

With this Messi became the record holder of the player with the most Ballon d’Or awards in the history of the sport. After captaining Argentina to a World Cup after 36 years and even winning the player of the tournament at the competition he has set the bar very high for any potential competitors to follow.

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Lionel Messi now has three more awards than the second-placed Cristiano Ronaldo.

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I couldn’t imagine having the career that I’ve had.

He said while accepting the award and thanking his Argentinian teammates, staff, and coach along with his club.

Irrespective of Erling Haaland scoring around 60 goals and winning a debut treble, he was still judged unfit for the award by French football. Fans were not extremely jubilant at the suspected bias of the award towards the Argentine making this a controversial win and not an undisputed one.

Twitter reacts to Lionel Messi’s eighth Ballon d’Or award

As Lionel Messi became the player with the most Ballon d’Ors in the history of the sport, Johan Cryuff’s prophecy regarding him has finally come true.

Lionel Messi arrives with family at the Ballon d'Or ceremony
Lionel Messi arrives with family at the Ballon d’Or ceremony (Source: Goal.com)

Fans were happy about his win while many also accused the federation of a potential bias towards handling him the award over Manchester City’s Erling Haaland. Here are some of the reactions:

https://twitter.com/AFC_HuNcho/status/1719111139311677495?s=20
https://twitter.com/jammyyhungola/status/1719129127821656400?s=20

As the ceremony ended, everyone present in the hall, gave a standing ovation to Messi when he was accepting his award. This underlined the love, greatness, and affection that everyone naturally feels for him while also acknowledging his stature.

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