Micah Richards had his say on Lionel Messi winning The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award instead of Erling Haaland.
Recently, Ian Wright felt the correct judges should be in place to decide the winners of such prestigious accolades, as he firmly believes the 23-year-old should have taken home the award.
However, Lionel Messi managed to beat the Norwegian international to the award, with Kylian Mbappe finishing right behind the pair.
Micah Richards believes Erling Haaland should have won The Best award instead of Lionel Messi
Since the £375,000-a-week (Sport Rac) man was snubbed during the award show, several fans and pundits alike have given their two cents on the matter.
Even a top midfielder like Bruno Guimaraes named the Leeds-born striker as one of the two best players in the world, which goes to show how much he has accomplished since joining Pep Guardiola’s side.
Now, Micah Richards also believes Manchester City phenomenon Erling Haaland was the deserved winner of The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award instead of its actual recipient, Lionel Messi.
“Yeah, but if it’s from January [2023] to January [2024], let’s be honest, if it was, because obviously the World Cup was in the December [of 2022], wasn’t it?”, he said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
Gary Lineker replied, “Yeah, previous, so it didn’t count for it.”
Micah Richards continued, “Of course, [Erling] Haaland should’ve won it. Of course, he should! All football people know that, we know that, we’ve already said [Lionel] Messi is probably the greatest to ever do it, there’s no hate coming from any of us lot ever.”
“But if we’re talking from a team that’s just won the treble and someone who’s just been 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’ rationale about Erling Haaland winning the award over Lionel Messi was bang on the money.
However, a superstar like Haaland will always have the chance to add to his trophy cabinet by winning such individual awards in the future.
As a result, while the former Borussia Dortmund number nine is entitled to feeling disappointed, he should perhaps not dwell on the feeling too much as it seems inevitable that he will continue making history as time passes.
Channelling such feelings into striving for greatness should be on Erling Haaland’s agenda instead.
