Haaland urged to boycott ballon d’or if ‘muppet journos’ hand Messi award based on ‘sentiment’.
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Erling Haaland lifts the Premier League trophy.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been told to ‘never return to another Ballon d’Or’ if Lionel Messi wins this year’s award.
Haaland joined Cityzens from Borussia Dortmund last summer and has enjoyed a historic debut campaign in the Premier League.
The Norwegian player scored 52 goals in 53 appearances in all competitions to help Man City win the treble (Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup).
On Wednesday, he was revealed as one of the contenders for the 2023 Ballon d’Or, when everyone knew he would be.
Despite Haaland’s incredible numbers and success at the Etihad, it is Lionel Messi who is a strong contender for this award.
Messi won the World Cup with Argentina but in reality had a relatively average club season by his impeccable standards. The , 32 goals scored in multiple Ligue 1 games is a nice comeback, but Paris Saint-Germain have completely fallen on the road towards a new league title.
The Parisians also failed again in the Champions League, losing in the round of 16 to Bayern Munich.
Messi’s sabotage of 20 goals and 20 assists for PSG may be an attempt to justify Craig Burley’s view that Haaland should win the prize, but here we are.
Speaking on ESPN, Burley said Haaland deserves to win the Ballon d’Or over seven-time winner Messi and if he does not get his hand on that beautiful golden trophy he should boycott the awards ceremony going forward.
“If Erling Haaland doesn’t win this, close the shop,” he said.
“Lionel Messi won the World Cup and it’s a great achievement, but it’s a four-week period. His general league form was not the best. PSG were terrible.
“Erling Haaland? Over 50 goals, a Premier League title, the FA Cup, and the Champions League. Erling Haaland should win this award. I know that a lot of people out there can’t get off the Messi bandwagon but look at the bigger picture.
“There’s going to be a lot of muppet journos voting for Messi. The big picture here is that Erling Haaland achieved everything over a long period of time.
“This award, like a few awards, drives me nuts but he’s the one that deserves it but I think out there it will be full of sentimental claptrap – Messi won the World Cup, Messi’s this and Messi’s that, and they will just hand him another one.
“And if I was Erling Haaland, I would never go back to another Ballon d’Or in my life, same as Robert Lewandowski.”
