Lionel Messi beat Erling Haaland to the 2023 Ballon d’Or (Photo: Getty)
Former Manchester United star Angel Di Maria has hit back at Lothar Matthaus after he called Lionel Messi’s Ballon d’Or win a ‘farce’.
The legendary footballer picked up his record-extending eighth Ballon d’Or on Monday night, with his success almost exclusively down to leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar.
While an incredible achievement, some believe that Erling Haaland was the more deserving winner, with his record 52 goals firing Manchester City to a historic treble win of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
Among those seemingly unhappy with Messi’s triumph was arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo who liked a post on Instagram from a Spanish journalist criticising the Inter Miami forward.
There was also 1990 Ballon d’Or winner Matthaus, who told Sky Germany: ‘Haaland has done better than Messi for the entire year. This award is not deserved and it proves that the World Cup counts more than everything.
‘To me, nobody was better than Haaland, he was the best in the last 12 months. He won important titles with Manchester City, setting a record for goals. It was a farce even if I’ve always been a Messi fan.’
Di Maria, who scored one and assisted one of Messi’s goal in the World Cup final, didn’t take too kindly to the German legend’s comments however.
‘A llorar a otro lado’ roughly translates to ‘Go cry somewhere else (Photo: Instagram)
The Argentine winger, currently playing for Benfica, hit back on social media, commenting on a post that featured Matthaus’ quotes with a simple message: ‘Go cry somewhere else.’
United’s former record signing is a good friend of Messi’s, having played alongside him for the national team since 2008 as well as at PSG for a season.
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Lautaro Martinez, another member of the World Cup winning squad, claimed before the Ballon d’Or ceremony that Messi could have and perhaps should have won the prize even more than he has.
‘He had to share this era with Cristiano Ronaldo, otherwise he would have won the Ballon d’Or 15 times,’ the Inter Mila striker said.
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