Messi, Ballon d’Or Upload Telling Videos Ahead of Haaland Duel for 2023 Award

• The social media activities of both Lionel Messi and Ballon d'Or have stoked speculation
• Tension is building about who will win with less than three weeks to the 2023 ceremony
• Erling Haaland will take on Messi after his record-breaking season with Manchester City

Fans have spotted a striking similarity in the captions used in posts by Lionel Messi and Ballon d'Or's official Instagram accounts.

The 2023 Ballon d'Or award is set to go down on Monday, October 30, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, with Messi once again the protagonist for the main prize.

The Argentine will be making a comeback after missing out entirely on the 2022 vote following his lacklustre debut season with Paris Saint-Germain.

What Messi and Ballon d'Or posted

Messi won the World Cup in Qatar last year, thus boosting his chances of winning a record-extending eighth title. His only perceived competition is Erling Haaland, whose 52 goals in 53 appearances led Manchester City to the European treble.

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With less than three weeks to go, Ballon d'Or's Instagram account uploaded a video of the trophy being worked on, captioning it, 'Work in Progress'.

Hours later, Messi shared an advert for an upcoming video game dubbed Messi and the Giants and used the same caption the award's page had - along with a winking emoji.

Fans reactions to Messi, Ballon d'Or posts

While it might have been just a mere coincidence, fans did not let it slide:

@BarcaWorldWide said:

"Messi and France Football trying to be sneaky with the captions as if we wouldn't notice."

@_dave_mccoy said:

"I saw the Messi ad, the ball literally turned into the Ballon dor ball when he kicked it, and I was like..."

While a third user said:

"'Work in progress' the work: Robbing Haaland."

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It was previously reported that the decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in December had brought about a string of unprecedented discussions ahead of the 2023 Ballon d'Or race.

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The global tournament is often a strong indicator of who will win the award, with Argentina's Lionel Messi leading the race for the gong and Erling Haaland diving into the argument.

There is no doubt the 2023 race for the sport's most coveted individual prize will be a heated one. Sports Brief looked at some of the top controversial calls in Ballon d'Or history.