Argentina star Angel Di Maria has hit back at comments from Germany legend Lothar Matthaus who claimed Lionel Messi should not have won the Ballon d’Or.
Messi was this week confirmed as the winner of the prestigious trophy for the eighth time in his career. The 36-year-old helped Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar last December; the country's first triumph since 1984. Messi then joined Inter Miami in July as a free agent after his contract expired at Paris Saint-Germain. Messi scored 11 goals in his 14 appearances for the Major League Soccer club in his debut season.
But Messi's Ballon d'Or triumph was not met with approval by everyone. Matthaus, a legend for Bayern Munich and the German national team, expressed his belief that Manchester City striker Erling Haaland was more deserving of the award than Messi.
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“Haaland has done better than Messi for the entire year,” Matthaus told Sky Germany. “It's undeserved that Messi won. But that shows that a World Cup counts more than anything else. For me, Haaland is the best player of the last twelve months. He won major titles with Manchester City and broke goalscoring records in the process. For me, there is no way around Haaland. The choice is a farce, even though I am a Messi fan.”
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Matthaus’ remarks led Di Maria, a long-time teammate of Messi’s, to respond with a comment of his own. Di Maria has played alongside Messi 135 times across his career and was part of the Argentina squad that won the World Cup last December. Di Maria commented on a post that referenced the remarks from Matthaus. His post, written in Spanish, said: “Go cry somewhere else,” accompanied by a laughing face emoji.
As well as beating Haaland to the award, Messi also saw off competition from his former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, who finished third in the standings. Man City duo Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri completed the top five. Messi was also nominated for the MLS Newcomer of the Year award, despite only playing in six league games in his debut season.
Messi’s first season with Miami came to an end last month, with the team failing to reach the MLS play-offs. Miami finished 14th in the Eastern Conference and nine points adrift of the play-off spots, with Messi scoring just one goal in the league. Miami will now be on a hiatus until the start of the 2024 MLS season. Messi is still expected to play for Argentina in November in World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil but will return to Miami for pre-season in January ahead of the new season.
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