Micah Richards on Lionel Messi winning the FIFA Best Male Player award instead of Erling Haaland
Recently, Ian Wright felt that the correct judges should be present to decide the winners of such prestigious awards as he firmly believes that the 23-year-old should have taken home the prize.
However, Lionel Messi managed to beat the Norwegian international to the award, with Kylian Mbappe finishing just behind the pair.
Micah Richards believes Erling Haaland should have won The Best Award instead of Lionel Messi
Since the £375,000-per-week man (Sport Rac) was snubbed during the awards, several fans and experts have given their take on the matter.
Even a top midfielder like Bruno Guimarães named the Leeds-born forward as one of the top two players in the world, showing how much he has accomplished since joining Pep Guardiola’s side.
Now, Micah Richards also believes Manchester City phenomenon Erling Haaland was the deserving winner of the FIFA Best Male Player award, instead of actual winner Lionel Messi.
“Yes, but if it’s from January [2023] to January [2024] let’s be honest, if it was, because obviously the World Cup was in December [of 2022] wasn’t it?”, he said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
Gary Lineker responded, “Yes, previously, so it doesn’t count”.
Micah Richards continued: “Of course, [Erling] Haaland should have won. Of course, he should! Everyone in football knows that, we know that, we have already said [Lionel] Messi is probably the greatest that’s ever done it, there has never been animosity coming from any of us.”
“But if we’re talking about a team that has just won the treble and someone who was instrumental in that, of course, it should have been Haaland.”
Erling Haaland would be best placed not to focus on the disappointment too much
In our view, Micah Richards’ reasoning about Erling Haaland winning the award over Lionel Messi was a good shout.
However, a superstar like Haaland will always have the chance to add to his trophy cabinet by clinching these individual awards in the future.
As a result, while the former Borussia Dortmund number nine has every right to be disappointed, he may not want to dwell too much on that feeling as it seems inevitable that he will continue making history over time.
Channeling those feelings into the fight for greatness should be on Erling Haaland’s agenda.