{"id":5897,"date":"2023-10-31T12:56:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T09:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/5897\/ballon-dor-2023-messi-beats\/"},"modified":"2023-10-31T12:56:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T09:56:07","slug":"ballon-dor-2023-messi-beats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=5897","title":{"rendered":"Ballon d&#8217;Or 2023: Messi beats Haaland to win for eighth time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ballon d&#8217;Or 2023: Messi beats Haaland to win for eighth time\u060c<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li>\n<p>Sam Marsden<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Moses Llorens<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"timestamp \">October 30, 2023, 9:31 p.m.<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Inter Miami CF star Lionel Messi won the Ballon d&#8217;Or for a record eighth time, fending off competition from Manchester City striker Erling Haaland after leading Argentina to the World Cup last year.<\/p>\n<p>Messi, 36, becomes the first MLS player to <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/win\/\"   title=\"win\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">win<\/a> the coveted prize, although the triumph was largely based on his exploits with his country in Qatar.  Former Manchester <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/united\/\"   title=\"United\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">United<\/a> player and Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham presented the award to his signing Messi in Paris.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Choice<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Haaland, who scored 52 goals last season as City won the treble in 2022-23, finished second in the voting and won the Gerd Muller Trophy as the best striker of the year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t imagine having the career I had. Everything I achieved,&#8221; Messi said after receiving his award.  &#8220;The fortune I had playing for the best team in the world, the best team in history. It&#8217;s nice to win these individual trophies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWinning the Copa America and then the World Cup, achieving that is incredible. [Ballon d&#8217;Or awards] are special for different reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Before Messi received his award, Barcelona and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmat\u00ed won the Women&#8217;s Ballon d&#8217;Or after a record year for club and country.  She helped Barca win La Liga F and the Champions League last season, before leading Spain to World Cup glory this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Among other awards handed out on Monday, Messi&#8217;s Argentina teammate Emiliano Martinez won the Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper and England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham received the Kopa Trophy for the world&#8217;s best player under 21 years old.<\/p>\n<p>During his acceptance speech, Messi wanted to wish his Argentine compatriot Diego Maradona a happy birthday.  The 1986 World Cup winner, who died on November 22, 2020, would have been 63 years old on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My last mention is for Diego [Maradona]&#8221;, Messi said. &#8220;Today is his birthday.  So I would like to remember him from here, surrounded by the best players, coaches and people who love <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/football\/\"   title=\"football\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">football<\/a> like him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWherever you are, Diego, happy birthday. That goes for you too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even before Monday&#8217;s ceremony in Paris, no player had won the Ballon d&#8217;Or more times than Messi, who first won it in 2009 and then again in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data- media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data- media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">Lionel Messi accepts the 2023 Ballon d&#8217;Or, marking the record eighth time he has won the award. <cite>Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Cristiano Ronaldo has won it five times, while Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten are all three winners.<\/p>\n<p>Messi scored 21 goals in 41 matches last season as Paris Saint-Germain retained the Ligue 1 title before joining Inter Miami earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Since arriving in the United States, he has scored 11 goals in 14 games for Miami, helping the franchise win its first ever piece of silverware, the Leagues Cup.<\/p>\n<p>However, he missed several matches due to injury late in the MLS regular season as Gerardo &#8220;Tata&#8221; Martino&#8217;s side failed in their late bid for a playoff spot.<\/p>\n<p>It was Messi&#8217;s performances at the World Cup in late 2022 that earned him an eighth Ballon d&#8217;Or, as Argentina ended a 36-year wait to be crowned world champions for a third time.<\/p>\n<p>Messi, as captain, was instrumental in Argentina&#8217;s success in Qatar, scoring seven goals and assisting three others as he was named player of the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>He scored twice in the final and again in the penalty shootout against France, helping Lionel Scaloni&#8217;s side win one of the most memorable showpieces in the competition&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<p>Having failed to defeat Argentina in four previous World Cups, including losing the 2014 final to Germany, many saw this as his last chance to get his hands on football&#8217;s biggest prize.<\/p>\n<p>At 36 years and four months, he also becomes the second oldest player to win the Ballon d&#8217;Or, replacing last year&#8217;s winner Karim Benzema.  Only the first winner, Stanley Matthews in 1956, was older when he won at age 41.<\/p>\n<p>Messi&#8217;s first six Ballon d&#8217;Ors were won while playing for Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwhere he is the club&#8217;s top scorer and record holder, while he won it for the seventh time shortly after joins PSG in 2021 after Copa America success with Argentina.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ballon d&#8217;Or 2023: Messi beats Haaland to win for eighth time\u060c Sam Marsden Moses Llorens October 30, 2023, 9:31 p.m. Inter Miami CF star Lionel Messi won the Ballon d&#8217;Or for a record eighth time, fending off competition from Manchester City striker Erling Haaland after leading Argentina to the World Cup last year. Messi, 36, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3016,1806,3017,4187,1268,2557,814,10],"class_list":["post-5897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-ballon","tag-beats","tag-dor","tag-eighth","tag-haaland","tag-messi","tag-time","tag-win"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5899,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897\/revisions\/5899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}