Lothar Matthaus said that Erling Haaland should have won the Ballon d’Or in 2023 instead of Lionel Messi. In response, Angel Di Maria made fun of Matthaus.

Monday night, Messi won the prized award for a record eighth time. He beat out City striker Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe to come in second and third, respectively. Matthaus, a former midfielder for Germany, called this a “farce” and pointed out that Haaland won the treble with City and scored 52 goals across all categories last season.

The 36-year-old, on the other hand, scored 21 goals for PSG and was very important in Argentina’s World Cup win last year. There is some disagreement about who deserved to win, but Di Maria, an Argentine winger for Benfica, gave the German some harsh criticism in an Instagram post that included a clip of his words. He told Sky Germany, “Haaland has done better than Messi for the whole year.”

Matthaus won the Ballon d’Or in 1990. Messi didn’t deserve to win. But that proves the World Cup is the most important thing. Hasland is the best player I’ve seen in the past year. He scored more goals than any other player in Manchester City’s history and won a lot of important titles with them. I can’t get away from Haaland. Even though I like Messi, the choice is a joke.

Some of Matthaus’s comments were shared on the Diario. ole Instagram account and Di Maria replied, “Go cry somewhere else.”As of now, Messi is in the late stages of his career and plays for Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer. He is still one of the best players in the world, though. Of course, he is one of the best athletes who has ever played the game, as shown again and again on the world stage.