Ex Miss Croatia with Subtle Dig at Messi for Winning Golden Ball

Ex Miss Croatia with Subtle Dig at Messi for Winning Golden Ball

Rene Otinga
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:20 PM
In this article:
FIFA World Cup logo
FIFA World Cup
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Lionel Messi logo
L.Messi
Inter Miami CF logoFArgentina logo
  • A former Miss Croatia went on rant to claim Lionel Messi did not deserve the Golden Ball
  • Messi was the hero of the tournament for Argentina as they defeated France in the final
  • Ivana Knoll believes Kylian Mbappe deserved the Golden Ball for his eight Mundial goals

Former Miss Croatia, Ivana Knoll has come out to slam FIFA for awarding the Golden Ball to Lionel Messi.

Knoll was at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday, December 18, despite the fact that her nation was knocked out of the World Cup in the semis.

Messi, Mbappe, Martinez
Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi of Argentina, Golden Glove winner Emiliano Martinez of Argentina, and Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe of France. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun.
Source: Getty Images

Shortly after Argentina beat France 4-2 via a penalty shootout, the stunning lass took to her Instagram story with a scathing review of the awards.

"FIFA World Cup, you gave the Golden Ball to the wrong person! Maybe Argentina won, but Kylian Mbappe is the Golden Ball!" she wrote as per Daily Star.

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According to Knoll, Kylian Mbappe deserved the Golden Ball more than Messi.

Mbappe has been in scintillating form throughout the World Cup, and capped off his performance with a hattrick in the final against Argentina.

His exploits meant he did not walk away from the tournament empty handed, as he won the Golden Boot.

Knoll's social media numbers bloom

As far as Knoll is concerned, she will be grateful she attended the Qatar World Cup, as she emerged as one of the most popular non-footballing figures at the competition.

At the time of publication, she boasts a massive 3.2 million followers on Instagram and has been subjected to strange marriage proposals online.

Days after the final and Knoll decided to stay in Doha for a few more days, as she continues to wow fans with her sultry mode of dressing.

However, she flew back to her native Croatia on Tuesday, December 20.

Cristiano’s partner on difficult year

Elsewhere, Sports Brief reported on Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning partner, Georgina Rodriguez's take on what she termed as the most difficult year of her life.

The 28-year-old was referring to the tragedy her family experienced in April, when they lost one of the twins they were expecting.

It was reported the baby boy was lost during childbirth but the girl, Bella Esmeralda survived and is presently eight months old.

Authors
Rene Otinga photo
Rene Otinga
Rene Otinga is a sports journalist with over eight years of working experience in digital media. Rene's experience includes working as a Copywriter at X News Kenya and TUKO.co.ke.