'Not fair!' - Erling Haaland losing Ballon d'Or to Lionel Messi is STILL grating on ex-Man City star who claims Argentina World Cup win wasn't enough for Inter Miami talisman to claim award

Lionel Messi's 2023 Ballon d'Or victory over Erling Haaland is still grating on Shaun Wright-Phillips, who insists the final vote was "not fair".

Messi trounced Haaland in the Ballon d'Or race
Beat the striker by 105 points
Wright-Phillips believes the result is "not fair"

WHAT HAPPENED? The 36-year-old Inter Miami forward lifted his record-extending eighth Golden Ball on a historic night in Paris after taking a march on Manchester City's Haaland. Messi won the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar last December, which made him the frontrunner to win the prestigious individual accolade. However, Wright-Phillips believes that the Norwegian striker should have bagged the award as he broke several goalscoring records while guiding City to a historic treble in 2022-23.

WHAT THEY SAID: "I definitely think Erling Haaland deserved to win the Ballon d’Or this year,” the former Man City star toldNewBettingSites.uk. "I do think Lionel Messi is the greatest of all time but that award has always been given based on individual accolades and Haaland has broken all of the records there are. The amount of goals he scored for Manchester City last season was just incredible. For him not to win the award based on Messi winning the World Cup with Argentina seems a bit harsh because Haaland plays for a nation in Norway that wasn’t even in the competition so it’s not really fair.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The football world has been divided in their opinion on whether Messi deserves the award. While legends like Thierry Henry have backed the Barcelona legend, several others like Jerome Rothen and Lothar Matthaus called the award a "disgrace" and a "farce" as an "undeserving" Messi was honoured with the prize.

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IN TWO PHOTOS:

Getty Images Erling Haaland has won the Gerd Muller Trophy.

Getty Images

WHAT NEXT? Haaland will return to action against Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League, while Messi is enjoying a break after Inter Miami failed to qualify for the MLS playoffs. However, the forward will be in action during the November international break, with Argentina set to come up against Uruguay and Brazil in 2026 World Cup qualifying.