Category: Sports

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Former Super Eagles captain Mikel Obi has insisted that Lionel Messi deserved to win the 2023 FIFA Best Player of the Year award contrary to the opinion of most critics.

Naija News has reported that Lionel Messi was crowned the winner of the 2023 FIFA Best Player of the Year award ahead of Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland who was expected to win it.

Messi was able to take the trophy after assisting PSG to win Ligue 1 title and Inter Miami to win the Leagues Cup, within the assessment period, December 19, 2022, to August 20, 2023.

During the same period, Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland helped Manchester City to win the treble – Champions League, FA Cup, and the Premier League in his debut season at the club.

Hence, Messi’s triumph came as a surprise, especially because of his incredible season in which he won the FA Cup, the Premier League, the Champions League, and the European Golden Boot with a record-breaking 36 league goals.

Messi has now joined Luka Modric, Robert Lewandowski, and Cristiano Ronaldo as the fourth footballer to win the award three times.

In his assessment of Lionel Messi’s win over Haaland, Mikel Obi told Sky Sports that the 36-year-old Argentine forward deserves it.

The former Chelsea midfielder said, “I think he did. We’ve complained that he hasn’t won the World Cup with Argentina. That was the only question. He hadn’t won it for Argentina. Then, he won the Copa America. The same year, he won the Copa America and the World Cup. Come on.”

Obi added: “I understand that Haaland is a great player. He plays for Manchester City, a team that creates chances and wins games. They’ve lost only one in nine or 10 games. They create chances, score goals, and know how to win games without Haaland.”

The post Mikel Obi Insists Lionel Messi Deserves FIFA Best Award Ahead Of Haaland appeared first on Naija News.

“We are appealing to Nigerians from all over the world to keep supporting and believing in the team,” said defender Troost-Ekong.

The post <em>AFCON: Super </em>Eagles Look Forward To ‘Interesting Encounter’ with Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire appeared first on Arise News.

Lionel Messi almost lost the 2023 FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year award to Erling Haaland but was saved by the votes of the national team captains.

Ahead of the award ceremony which took place in London on January 15, most football pundits believe that Haaland of Manchester City deserves to win the award over Lionel Messi.

Note that the players were nominated for the award based on their performance between December 19, 2022, and August 20, 2023.

In that time frame, the 36-year-old Messi played for two clubs, Paris Saint Germain in French Ligue 1, and Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer.

The two major titles Messi won during that period were the French Ligue 1 with PSG and the Leagues Cup with Inter Miami.

In the same period, Haaland helped Manchester City to win the historic treble which includes: the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League after scoring 53 goals throughout the 2022-2023 season.

Due to such a run, most football enthusiasts expected him to win the award but Messi beat him to it just like how the 36-year-old Argentine football icon beat the Norwegian striker to the 2023 Ballon d’Or.

After the voting process for the 2023 FIFA The Best Award, Messi got 48 votes same as Haaland. Hence, the organizers of the award had to use the number of times the two main contenders came first in the voting cards of national team captains.

Interestingly, Messi came first the most, hence he was named the winner of the award for the third time in his career.

Below are the major national team captains that voted for Lionel Messi:

1. Egypt’s captain, Mohamed Salah
2. Croatia’s captain Luka Modric
3. England’s captain Harry Kane
4. The Netherlands’ captain Virgil Van Dijk.
5. Jan Oblak, captain of Slovenia
6. Robert Lewandowski, captain of Poland
7. Gianluigi Donnaruma, captain of Italy
8. Son Heung-Min – South Korea
9. Christian Pulisic – United States Of America
10. Federico Valverde – Uruguay
11. Romelu Lukaku – Belgium
12. Andrew Robertson – Scotland
13. Radamel Falcao – Colombia
14. Granit Xhaka – Switzerland
15. Kylian Mbappe – France

The post National Team Captains That Helped Lionel Messi Win 2023 FIFA The Best Award Revealed appeared first on Naija News.

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