Lionel Messi‘s eighth Ballon d’Or win this year had raised the eyebrows of quite a few soccer pundits. Some believed Erling Haaland deserved the honor. His treble-winning and record-breaking campaign with Manchester City in the last season was at the heart of that sentiment. However, the Argentine’s World Cup victory and being in the twilight of his career have prompted the disagreeing lot to turn a blind eye. Now, another honor might come Messi’s way, as he is already nominated for FIFA The Best Award. This time, however, not many are ready to turn a blind eye.

Leo Messi is competing for The Best Award with the likes of Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. The award considers these players’ contributions in the calendar year 2023. Apparently, few soccer pundits believe that the Inter Miami star does not really have it to compete for the honor.

FIFA The Best Award called out for nominating Lionel Messi

In a recent ESPN FC episode, analysts Steve Nicol, Shaka Hislop, Dan Thomas, and Nedum Onuoha weighed in on Messi’s nomination for The Best Award. All of them unanimously opined that the 36-year-old did not deserve the nomination. “All the questions of what people think of this award when this happens, tells you it’s nonsense,” said Steve Nicol, alluding to Messi’s nomination as a finalist. Further into the conversation, every pundit, including Nicol, was taken aback when they realized the Inter Miami star is competing against Haaland and Mbappe for the award.

After Nicol, co-host Nedum Onuoha chimed in with his thoughts on the nomination. “Yeah, ridiculous. You know what I mean, people showing love to Messi, ridiculous,” said Onuoha. He concluded his take by saying Messi is not the best for him this year. The pundits’ disagreement does not come as a surprise. Leo Messi’s candidacy is indeed in the dubious light, considering the contributions of other short-listed players.

Does Lionel Messi outshine other short-listed players?

FIFA The Best Award for this year considers a player’s contributions from December 19 2022 to December 14, 2023. Considering Messi won the World Cup on December 18, 2022, it is to be doubted if that title gives him any edge over others. Besides, when he won the Ligue 1 title with PSG, it was Mbappe’s contributions that mattered more for the Parisian side. Though Messi won a Leagues Cup with Inter Miami, the side failed to even see this season’s MLS playoffs.

Albeit such a relatively diminishing campaign, FIFA nominated Messi ahead of Manchester City stars such as Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, and Rodri. These players have powered City’s treble win in 2023. Therefore, it was quite expected of any analyst to call out FIFA for nominating Messi as one of the finalists for The Best Award.

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