FIFA Best Award: Mikel Explains Why Messi Deserves Award Ahead of Haaland, Video

• Lionel Messi has been crowned the best men’s player of 2023
• The Argentina captain won ahead of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe
• The award was Messi’s eighth FIFA Best Award in his illustrious career

Former Super Eagles captain John Obi-Mikel says Lionel Messi deserved to win the men's player of the year award at The Best FIFA Awards ahead of Erling Haaland.

Messi won the prize over Haaland, despite the Norwegian completing the treble at Manchester City and scoring 30 goals in all competitions during the review period.

The Argentine’s latest win sparked reactions on social media as many fans felt Haaland should have been crowned as winner ahead of the Inter Miami superstar, who clinched the award through a tie-break, Sky Sports reports.

However, Mikel, who lost the 2005 Under-20 World Cup final to Messi, insists the Argentine captain did more than Haaland to merit the award ahead of the Man City forward.

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Messi becomes the player with the most FIFA Best award wins and also the first Major League Soccer player to be crowned winner of the special award.

How Messi beat Haaland again

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi won the Best FIFA Men's Player award for 2023, despite the fact that journalists mainly voted for Manchester City forward Erling Haaland, Fan Nation reports.

The 22-year-old Norwegian forward also topped a vote among national team coaches, but Messi came out on top in the vote conducted by national team captains.

Messi was proclaimed the winner by FIFA after receiving the highest five-point score from the votes cast by the men's national team leaders after being tied with Haaland for the prize.

Portugal coach picks Lionel Messi

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that the choice of Roberto Martinez, the head coach of Portugal, for the 2023 FIFA Best Awards has drawn attention after he snubbed Cristiano Ronaldo.

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Instead, Martinez chose Ronaldo's Al-Nassr colleague Marcelo Brozovic as his first pick, with Manchester City’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva as his second.

Notably, Martinez, who qualified Portugal for Euro 2024, controversially selected Lionel Messi, Cristiano's main adversary, as his third pick.