Lionel Messi: Argentina Captain Breaks Silence After Winning The Best FIFA Award

• Lionel Messi was named The Best FIFA Men's Player of the Year 2023 on Monday
• He beat Erling Haaland by a tie-breaker to win the award for a consecutive year
• After maintaining silence for days, he has finally shared a post on his Instagram

Lionel Messi has spoken for the first time since winning the 2023 FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award on Monday night at an event in London.

He beat Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to a second award in three months, having also won the 2023 Ballon d'Or ahead of the talented young duo.

Some feel the award was controversial as the World Cup winner has picked up two consecutive The Best awards for his exploits at the Qatar 2022 Mundial.

Per FIFA Media, the Argentina captain won the award via a tiebreaker after he was tied on 48 scoring points with Haaland but won the captain's vote by 677 to 557.

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Messi breaks silence after FIFA Best

None of the three finalists were present at the award, including the Manchester City striker who lives in England, further intensifying the suspense around the prize before it was announced.

Messi surprisingly won, and fans have been expecting him to acknowledge the award since Monday night, but what they have had from him -and his team - was silence.

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner finally shared a post on his Instagram, his first form of communication since the event ended, but fans were ultimately left disappointed.

He shared two pictures of himself at Inter Miami training wearing his new Adidas Superflow boots and with the caption 'Vamos', which translates to 'let's go' in English.

His failure to acknowledge his The Best award has led to rumours suggesting he knows he did not merit winning it ahead of Haaland.

If the silence continues, it will be the first time Messi would have win an award and not acknowledged it in person or on social media.

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Why Messi missed FIFA Best award

Sports Brief also reported on Messi's absence at the awards ceremony despite winning a controversial consecutive The Best FIFA prize for winning the 2022 World Cup.

Sources close to the Argentine claimed he did not want to disrupt his Inter Miami schedule, where he had just resumed pre-season training ahead of a busy 2024.