Di Maria Tells Lionel Messi Critic To “Go Cry Somewhere Else” After 2023 Ballon d’Or Claim

• Lionel Messi's Argentina teammate, Angel Di Maria has hit back at Lothar Matthaus
• Matthaus claimed that Messi did not deserve to have won the 2023 Ballon d'Or
• Messi's triumph on October 30 was his eighth Golden Ball prize in total

Angel Di Maria took to Instagram to hit back at Lothar Matthaus for his comments suggesting that Lionel Messi did not merit his Ballon d'Or victory.

The Argentine, who is Messi's teammate in the national team, responded to the legendary German player's criticism of the Ballon d'Or selection.

Matthaus, a professed admirer of the 36-year-old, had proposed that the Golden Ball should have been awarded to Erling Haaland instead of the Argentine maestro, whose latest triumph on Monday night brought his Ballon d'Or tally to eight.

Ballon d'Or: Messi vs. Haaland

Leo's notable contributions included scoring seven goals at the World Cup and being honoured as the tournament's best player following Argentina's victory over France in the final in Doha, Qatar.

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However, the Barcelona legend, who had secured his first Ballon d'Or in 2009, had a relatively lacklustre final season at PSG before departing to play for Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer.

In contrast, Haaland delivered exceptional performances at club level, breaking nearly every conceivable goal-scoring record during his debut season with Manchester City, which ultimately culminated in a historic treble-winning accomplishment.

Despite Haaland's outstanding individual and collective achievements, including a staggering 52 goals in 53 matches across all competitions, he only secured second position in the 2023 Ballon d'Or rankings.

This led Matthaus, a former recipient of the esteemed award in 1990, to denounce the decision as a "farce".

"Over the whole of last year, Haaland performed better than Lionel Messi," he told Sky, as quoted by Sportskeeda.

Matthaus added: "It’s undeserved that Messi won. But that shows that a World Cup counts more than anything else."

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Swiftly countering, Messi's fellow Argentine, Di María, promptly intervened to dismiss the German's statement.

"Go cry somewhere else (A llorar a otro lado)" he commented, as noted by Spanish newspaper AS, followed by a laughing emoji.

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Piers Morgan claims Ballon d'Or was 'rigged'

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that British TV personality, Piers Morgan has teamed up with Cristiano Ronaldo to voice his criticism of Lionel Messi's historic Ballon d'Or victory.

The outspoken broadcaster took to his social media account on Tuesday to assert that the Ballon d'Or selection process was biased.

He contended that the award should have been given to Manchester City forward Erling Haaland instead.