Bernardo Silva believes that this year’s Ballon d’Or title is hard to escape from Lionel Messi’s hands.
Bernardo Silva assessed that Haaland is not capable of competing with the Ballon d’Or with Messi. Photo: Reuters . |
Silva told France Football : “If Haaland wins the Premier League and Champions League, you can include him in the Ballon d’Or debate. The same goes for Vinicius Junior in case Real Madrid wins the Champions League. All in all, it’s a rivalry between Messi and the Champions League winner. But for now, I’ll give it to Messi”.
The Man City midfielder also said of Cristiano Ronaldo: “I was with the team two or three times when Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or. We always congratulate him. But when he didn’t win, he was unhappy and said: ‘I think I deserve better’. Ronaldo is a top player who always wants to be above all”.
Haaland created a fever in English football when he broke the record for scoring the most goals in a Premier League season in his first season with Man City. The Norwegian player reached 51 goals after 47 matches and with “The Citizens” had the opportunity to win the Premier League and Champions League 2022/23.
Meanwhile, Messi scored 20 goals in 38 matches for PSG, contributing 19 assists. Messi is also an important factor in helping Argentina win the World Cup 2022. This achievement makes Leo a leading candidate for the 2023 Ballon d’Or title despite PSG’s early elimination in the Champions League.
In contrast, the last period of Ronaldo’s career did not go smoothly. On May 9, Al Nassr was held 1-1 by Al Khaleej in round 26 of the Saudi Arabian National Championship. The disappointing draw caused Al Nassr to be widened by Al Ittihad in the championship race to 5 points, while the season only had 4 rounds.
Messi set a record of winning 7 Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo was named 5 times, and Haaland is on the way to becoming the next owner of the noble individual title.