In an extremely sublime season with a treble of titles with Man City along with countless personal records and titles, Erling Haaland still missed FIFA The Best 2023, even though everyone was sure that this title was already guaranteed. in the pocket of the Norwegian “goal machine”.
Perhaps this is the “great trick” of football history! Unbelievably losing the Golden Ball and now The Best, Haaland is truly unlucky. No wonder, the award ceremony took place right in London and the Norwegian striker did not attend.
Messi personally did not attend because surely the 36-year-old Argentine striker “did not think in his wildest dreams that he would win FIFA The Best 2023< a i=2>” to “successfully defend” the award he won 1 year ago. Because, unlike the Ballon d’Or, Messi has absolutely no chance of “fighting” Haaland at FIFA The Best 2023 when this year’s tournament is only considered from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023, that is, after the 2022 World Cup. .
Everyone is sure that Haaland will deservedly become the number one player in the world. He can miss the Golden Ball, but FIFA The Best cannot. Because, the 23-year-old striker has won both the UEFA Best Player award and the previous IFFHS Best Player award. And, in what factors does Haaland still dominate?
Regarding collective titles, in 2023, Haaland completed a great treble with Man City, including the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup championships. This is a feat that only one other English club, MU in 1999, has ever achieved.
In addition, “Ma Bu” also added to his golden list of achievements with the European Super Cup after The Citizens defeated “cup king” Sevilla. In 2023, what does Messi have? French Super Cup, Ligue 1 championship with PSG and Leagues Cup with Inter Miami.
Personally, the Norwegian striker broke a series of records and added many awards to his “huge” record: European Golden Shoe (36 goals); Premier League Best Player 2022/23; Champions League top scorer (12 goals).
Not only has he proven himself as a top goalscorer, Haaland is also a creator of opportunities for his teammates, showing his ability to contribute more comprehensively to the home team when trained by coach Pep Guardiola. Furthermore, despite having to move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League, Haaland did not take time to adapt, but immediately shone, becoming the monster of every European defense.
Haaland set a record of scoring 36 goals/35 matches in the 2022/23 Premier League, setting the first milestone of scoring 50 goals/48 matches in the country’s number one tournament (while Andy Cole’s old record was 50 goals/65 matches).
This 23-year-old striker scored 28 goals in 33 matches for Man City in the race to win FIFA The Best 2023 from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023. The achievement contributed to helping Haaland finish the 2022/23 season as the top scorer in the Premier League and Champions League.
Ever since FIFA announced the shortlist of the top 3 candidates for the title of Best Player of 2023, Haaland was predicted to win. Because, in addition to the above collective and individual titles, he also won the Best Player and Best Young Player awards for the 2022/23 season in the English Premier League.
A very few people believe that Haaland does not deserve this award when he does not shine in Man City’s most important matches. However, if you consider Haaland’s journey and contributions, it is clear that he is the key to the success of The Citizens, helping Pep’s machine approach perfection.
When it comes to Man City in the 2022/23 season, Haaland is an iconic name. When talking about a striker, the first thing that is mentioned is goals. The Norwegian striker is the king of bombing in almost every tournament he participates in (except the EURO 2024 qualifiers with the Norwegian team).
But then, all of Haaland’s efforts went “down the drain” when he only beat Messi in the number of points received from the media and national team coaches. The Norwegian striker received 729 points, more than double Messi (315), and Mbappe received 168 points from journalists; received 541 points from the national team coaches, while Messi got 476 points and Mbappe got 302 points.
However, Haaland was unlucky to receive fewer points from the captains: 557 points compared to Messi’s 677 points (Mbappe is 292) and especially lower scores from fans: 365,893 compared to Messi’s 613,293 points (Mbappe is 292) is 201,866).
Thereby, calculating the average score, Haaland and Messi won 48 points, and Mbappe had 35 points. However, Haaland lost in the end because he had less votes than the captains for first place: 11 compared to 13.
The FIFA The Best 2023 awards ceremony in London ended without all three people standing on the top podium, partly demonstrating the terrible injustice with Haaland and the controversial outcome of this award.
Very close to every title in 2023, but the two biggest individual awards pass Haaland. It will be very difficult for Haaland to get that close to the Ballon d’Or or FIFA The Best, because in even years with EURO or World Cup, it is difficult for him to create miracles with the Norwegian national team, and in odd years, it is not the time. Man City will always have a perfect performance like the 2022/23 season.
