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The GOAT could be headed for another award
Lionel Messi’s exceptional year could be crowned with another individual accolade, as he has been listed as one of three finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year award for 2022.
Messi favourite for The Best FIFA Men’s player of the year award
The award that is set to be announced Feb 27, 2023 is meant to recognise players in the men’s game for their achievements in the year 2022, and Messi certainly had many of those.
None, however, were as significant as his performances at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where he contributed to a tournament-high 10 goals (seven goals and three assists) as Argentina won their first world title since 1986 when Diego Maradona was the star of the show.
Messi was already recognised after the World Cup as the Player of the Tournament, winning the golden ball after being named Man of the Match in five of Argentina’s matches, including the final against France.
The legacy-defining World Cup win makes Messi the favourite for the award, but he also has some stiff competition in the form of the other two finalists, who also had splendid performances over the year in review.
The Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year finalists
Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe was the standout player as France went all the way to the final of the 2022 World Cup, eventually losing to Argentina.
Mbappe matched Messi’s 10 goal contributions (eight goals and two assists) in Qatar and scored the first World Cup final hat-trick since 1966, and only the second in the competition’s history as he took France to the brink of back-to-back world titles.
The final nominee, Mbappe’s international teammate Karim Benzema could not participate in the World Cup after picking up an injury days before the tournament but had already done enough to warrant a place on the final list.
Benzema’s enigmatic 2021/2022 season saw him score 44 goals and assist 15 times in 46 matches as he led Real Madrid to a brilliant LaLiga and UEFA Champions League double.
He was especially heralded for his performance in the Champions League where he scored a remarkable 15 times, including consecutive knockout stage hattricks as Los Blancos galloped to a 14th European Cup.
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