Why Messi Still Has Ballon d’Or Advantage Despite Haaland Winning UEFA Award

• Erling Haaland beat Lionel Messi to the 2023 UEFA Men's Best Player of the Year Award
• This is set to act as a pregame as the two prepare to face off for the 2023 Ballon d'Or award
• Both players have strong cases for winning the award, but as it stands, Messi seemingly holds a slight advantage

Erling Haaland threw another spanner in the works after he scooped the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award on August 31.

The Manchester City player took the award in a glitzy ceremony at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, which coincided with the Champions League group stage draw for the 2023/2024 season.

It was the second individual award he has picked up in consecutive weeks after winning the PFA Men's Player of the Year last week in the English Premier League.

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It is just a testament and recognition of the ridiculous numbers he put in last season to help his side with the historic treble.

Erling Haaland's Ballon d'Or chances

But the Norwegian will keep his eyes on an even bigger target. The Ballon d'Or award coming at the end of next month will accord him an opportunity to win his first going at age 23.

He will face Lionel Messi, whose World Cup exploits with Argentina at the Qatar edition towards the end of last year have put him in a prime position to win a record 8th title - his personal wishes of 'not caring' about the award notwithstanding.

The team of experts and international journalists will have to decide between someone who won the treble in his maiden season in arguably the toughest league in the world, while on the other hand, they have someone who completed football in the most fairytale fashion ever.

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At the moment, methinks that Messi still has an edge over Haaland. Here's why.

UEFA Award vs Ballon d'Or

For starters, Haaland should be concerned that it is not always a given for the winners of the UEFA Men's Best Player of the Year to follow it up by winning the Ballon d'Or. In recent years(2011 onwards), the Ballon d'Or and the UEFA Awards were given to different players on four different occasions.

It happened in 2011 when Messi won the Ballon d'Or, but his Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta took home the UEFA Award. Cristiano Ronaldo then won the 2013 gong as Franck Ribery was awarded by UEFA. 2019 and 2021 saw Messi win the Ballon d'Or ahead of the UEFA's Players of the Year, Virgil Van Dijk and Jorginho, respectively.

The 2013 scenario is always a stark example as it is often used as a case study in the biggest Ballon d'Or robberies of all time.

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The general consensus in the aforementioned examples is that the UEFA Award doesn't usually necessarily act as a prelude to what will happen in the Ballon d'Or vote.

Messi has beaten the UEFA Men's Player of the Year to the Ballon d'Or three times in his career, can he do it again?

Why Messi will beat Haaland to Ballon d'Or 2023

Additionally, as Sports Brief has previously reported, Messi was believed to making a beeline for a record-extending eighth title after he led Argentina to a World Cup victory in December last year.

Apart from winning the World Cup, we broke down the other reasons why Messi has an advantage over Haaland in the 2023 race.

Haaland's 'no-show' in big games might work against him despite his 52 goals in 53 appearances last season. The strength of the World Cup will also be a big disadvantage for him.