2023 Ballon d’Or: Lionel Messi remains the strongest candidate

Only a month is left until the 2023 Ballon d’Or award winner will be announced. The awards, held by the French news magazine France Football, will announce the winners on October 30.

The Ballon d’Or is the most reputable individual award in the world of football. Lionel Messi already has seven Ballons d’Or to his name. However, he said that winning an eighth is not his current priority.

The Argentine legend led Argentina to glory at the 2022 World Cup and won the Golden Ball, awarded to the best player in the tournament. Messi also played an essential role in helping PSG win the Ligue 1 title last season with 21 goals and 20 assists in 41 appearances in all competitions.

This year, while Messi remains the strongest candidate, there is no clear and dominant favourite this time. For instance, he now faces stiff competition for the award from Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and midfielder Rodri.

Haaland and Rodri tailing behind

The power transition from living legends to newborn ones is always exciting to see, especially in global football. This is what makes many fans remain entertained and those who bet on football with Bitcoin stay on the edge of their seats, because anything can happen at this point. This might be another year for Messi, but the youths are breathing down his neck with fierce catch-up.

After joining Manchester City in the summer of 2022, Haaland demonstrated his skills as a goal machine to strike fear into the defences of clubs across Europe.

He scored 52 goals and nine assists in 53 appearances to lead City to the treble last season. The 23-year-old player also won the European Golden Shoe. However, his failure to score in several key games towards the end of the season will likely cost him the Ballon d’Or.

The club also has Rodri, who performed phenomenally in Manchester City’s midfield for several seasons. But the Spaniard was at a different level last season.

Rodri even scored City’s goal in the Champions League final against Inter Milan. He won the treble with City before winning the UEFA Nations League with Spain in the summer of 2023. The 27-year-old player has a significant chance of reaching the Ballon d’Or podium this year but is currently benched due to red card violations, making his position uncertain.

However, Messi can’t let his guard down. Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior has now established himself as Real Madrid’s main player in attack after the departure of Karim Benzema.

Vinicius recorded 23 goals and 21 assists in 55 appearances in all competitions for Real Madrid in the 2022/2023 season. However, failing to win the La Liga and Champions League titles might cost him the Ballon d’Or title this year if he doesn’t make some follow-ups.

More contenders

Polish striker Robert Lewandowski gave the best result in his debut season at Barcelona, giving back to the club what they had missed since Luis Suarez’s departure in 2020.

Lewandowski’s goals led the club to win the La Liga title last season after a gap of three years. This 35-year-old player scored 33 goals and eight assists in 46 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona last season.

Meanwhile, German Ilkay Gundogan, previously known as a phenomenal player for Manchester City, might not have done much with his current club, Barcelona.

However, at the end of last season, he scored 11 goals and seven assists in 51 appearances in all competitions for the Citizens last season. Notably, he bagged two goals in the FA Cup Final on June 3 against Manchester United. He also contributed two goals each against Leeds United and Everton to fire City to the Premier League title.