Lionel Messi’s vote for the FIFA Best Goalkeeper leaves fans stunned

Lionel Messi has been crowned the winner of another award, and this time it is FIFA’s Best Award. The forward recently won his 8th historic Ballon d’Or award and has now continued on that success.

After extensive voting by a FIFA panel, journalists, fans, and other national team coaches and players, Messi won the award, beating both Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, at first tying with the Norwegian. However, Messi has drawn attention to some of his choices in the other categories of the award.

Lionel Messi’s vote for FIFA Best Goalkeeper causes stir among the fans

Every year, esteemed international captains and coaches of every team are invited to vote on FIFA’s Best Awards. While Lionel Messi did win this year’s award, he had voted in all the categories of the esteemed awards.

Aside from the Best Player Award, which is for the best player in the world in that season, there is also the Best Goalkeeper Award, which is also voted for by national captains. Each of them is given three players to choose from in the order of their best performances.

Lionel Messi, the Argentine national team captain, voted in the category. He chose Brazilian and Manchester City keeper Ederson for his treble winning season at top spot. At second was Andre Onana, who was the UCL finalist with Inter Milan. At third spot, was former teammate and Barcelona keeper Marc Andre Ter Stegan for his brilliant La Liga winning campaign with the Catalans.

While all of these were good options, fans were a bit surprised to see a major absence from the choices. It was that of fellow Argentine teammate and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who is considered one of their crucial elements to winning the World Cup in 2022. Considering their close bond and friendship, one may wonder why Messi left him. However, it is important to note he may have snubbed him as he didn’t win anything major in the 2023 season.

Lionel Messi’s votes revealed for other categories

While his choices for the goalkeeper awards were somewhat surprising, his other choices were seen as accurate. In his own voting for the Best Award, which he won, he had snubbed himself like previous occasions in a humble manner. He chose his main competitor Erling Haaland as his top choice, followed by former Paris Saint Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe at second, and Argentine teammate Julian Alvarez at third.

In his choices for the Best Coach award, he was again very accurate in his assessment. He chose former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola as his winner, who won the treble with Manchester City. At second, he chose former teammate and Barcelona’s La Liga-winning manager, Xavi. At third was Italian national team manager Luciano Spalletti for winning the Serie A title with Napoli.

Lionel Messi has enjoyed a long break from soccer, and after winning The Best award, will look to the future with Inter Miami, as he rejoins former Barcelona teammates at the club.