Erling Haaland
- Thread starter behindbrowneyes
- Start date
iniestaGOAT
Senior Member
Messi 58 goals in 14/15 with the treble and his football was from different universe.
Haaland with the treble can win ballon dor. Though he is not even City best player.
soul24rage
Senior Member
Timing of the World Cup is bad for Messi.
Recency Bias is huge in these voting awards.
Recency Bias is huge in these voting awards.
Cristiano did 😝
Hardy
Senior Member
fair enough but that's not the point, I'm talking about pure scoring stats, not performance, Messi wasn't top scorer in Liga that season, and imagine if he also break ronaldo's record in CL
te amo barca
Blaugrana al vent
Hope Barca sign him one day.
bismp
Well-known member
It shouldn't be though...Messi had a great WC tournament, but a tournament of 7 games nonetheless. You can't base the award of the most prestigious individual honour on 7 games. Especially because for better or worse, the WC took place almost a year before the ceremony. Yeah it was dumb that the WC was not included for the 2022 B'Dor, but it is what it is.
The truth is that Leo plays in a second tier league. And it is not like he is lighting it up or putting historic performances or breaking records or anything. Sofascore etc should not fool us. There is a legitimate argument that he may not even be the best player on his team.
Most importantly, PSG failed miserably in the CL. Like seriously, you can't give the B'Dor to a player that got knocked out in the Round of 16, while disappearing to be honest. In 2021 Leo was the exception, because frankly no one had a season which combined individual greatness with titles.
Haaland may not be on the level of prime Messi or CR7, he may be playing in a stacked team with a great manager, but still he is about to obliterate the PL scoring record and City has all but won the PL, which is inarguably the best domestic league in the moment. If they also win the CL (their FIRST CL), I think there is no argument for Leo or any other player. Haaland would have the argument of being the inarguably best and most complete scorer right now + being potentially the reason that helped City finally achieve their CL goal after a decade of trying.
On the other hand, if they don't win the CL, then it is more open. I think Haaland would still be among the favorites, albeit not the clear favorite. Still, I wouldn't give it to Messi. He has to win the CL to win the 8th, which I find quite improbable, whether with PSG or with Barca. In any other case, he has won more than enough. No one is beating his resume, including the record of 7 Ballons.
soul24rage
Senior Member
I agree with you on from the 3rd paragraph to the 5th that if City wins the CL with the season that Haaland is having, then imo Haaland deserves the Ballon D'or.
What I don't agree with is to diminish the WC to just a 7-game tournament. The WC is the most prestigious tournament in football history with a lot of mental pressure playing for your country with the low margin of error, especially since the WC happens every 4 years.
Also think that Messi has been PSG's best player this season, even if he didn't live up to the expectations in the CL.
fergus90
Senior Member
To be honest, I completely agree with everything you said.
I was more going off history likes of Ronaldo in 2002, Cannavaro 2006 etc. But if City complete their first CL it's going to be very tough to take that away from him.
Not only that, the treble is now a very serious possibility for them at this point.
bismp
Well-known member
Yeah but Leo already received individual honours, largely based on the WC. The WC golden ball ofc, the FIFA Best award, the IFFHS Playmaker of the year etc. Despite being really bad in the 2021/22 CL KO.
If you even look how the WC influenced the Ballon D'Or voting the past years, you see that 'rarely' the Ballon winner actually won the WC.
2018 -> Modric (you could give it to Griezmann or Mbappe. Neither of them had monster seasons, but that applies to Modric too)
2014 -> CR (CR dominated the CL, it did not help that Neuer conceded a bunch of goals in the CL semis)
2010 -> Messi (the story has been discussed over and over, but you could give it to Xavi or Iniesta if we applied the rule)
2006 -> Cannavaro (the exception to the rule and ofc it is still discussed to that day. R10 had won the CL+La Liga double with Barca and was arguably the best player in the world at that time. But the thing is, that Brazil team was hyped to win b2b and rightfully so. I think they remain one of the most talented NTs ever on paper. And R10 was the best player in the world, he was expected to lead them to the title and failed totally. So, you can see the point...)
2002-> R9 (I don't think that counts as an exception to the rule. Yeah R9 did not win the CL (presumably he did not even participate in it?). However he was the leading man for Brazil + he was coming back after a monster injury + he was one of the most hyped/talented players ever + he completed a big transfer to Real Madrid and presumably had a decent start to the 2002/03 season etc. On the other hand, France did not even make it to the WC KO, so Zidane and Henry had to be ruled out.)
1998-> Zidane (won the WC and made it to the CL final with Juventus + was among the 2-3 rising stars in world football. )
And before that, non-European players could not even compete for the award, so there is no point discussing it any further.
I mean the last 15 years, the B'Dor has gone to the CL winner 10 times, this also a quite important precedent. The remaining 5 times, the B'Dor winner reached at least the semis 4 times. If we also count 2020, which would go to Lewa without a doubt, then in the last 16 years: 11 times to the CL winner and 4 times to a CL semifinalist.
Last edited:
Home of Barca Fans
