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- Ballon d'Or winner set to be announced
- Messi and Haaland are the favourites
- Henry backing the World Cup winner
WHAT HAPPENED? The winner of the 2023 Ballon d'Or will be announced in a ceremony in Paris on Monday, October 30. Messi is the favourite to lift the famous Golden Ball for a record eighth time after leading Argentina to World Cup glory. Yet Erling Haaland is also in contention after winning the treble and hitting an astonishing 52 goals for Manchester City last season. Thierry Henry has been asked for his thoughts on the debate and revealed which player gets his vote.
WHAT THEY SAID: “I mean a lot of people can debate that but for me if you win the World Cup, the way he did it, we can talk about what happened in the final. As a Frenchman, I was a little bit disappointed with how it finished but you can’t say that it isn’t deserved if he wins it," he said on CBS Sports. “A lot of people can claim that Man City players, Haaland and some other players can also say ‘why not me?’ but you can’t say that it’s not right if he wins it. You have the history at times where I’m thinking about Lewandowski, they decided to say there will not be a Ballon d’Or but there was football. Why was the guy not allowed to win his Ballon d’Or?”
Henry was then directly asked by fellow pundit Jamie Carragher who he thinks should win the Ballon d'Or and answered: "For me, Messi. Bye. Over.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Henry is not the first to back Messi for the big prize ahead of Haaland. Manchester City midfielder Rodri has also said he expects the Argentina international to pip the striker to the coveted award. Norway boss Stale Solbakken also believes that Messi will be the winner of the Golden Ball due to his exploits at the World Cup.
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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT? Messi is set to head to China with Inter Miami after the Ballon d'Or ceremony for two friendlies against Qingdao Hainiu and Chengdu Rongcheng.
