Lionel Messi won his eighth Ballon d’Or on Monday after beating Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and his former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappé.
There’s a lot of reaction to the Argentine winning the honor, including the 24-year-old winger. However, outside of the Frenchman, one of the responses to Messi’s latest achievement is from Didier Deschamps.
Deschamps had to develop a tactical game plan against Messi for the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. After the award ceremony, the French tactician offered his thoughts on the 36-year-old winning the honor.
“The Argentines say it,” Deschamps told Fox Sports (h/t Paris Fans). “He is one of them, but it’s difficult to say that Messi is better than Cristiano Ronaldo or Mbappé, who is younger. These are players who have left their mark on the history of world football.”
Messi and Mbappé made French football history on Monday. Stats Foot highlighted on Twitter that it’s the first time a French club has had two players in the top three for the Ballon d’Or.
It will be interesting to see if the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner can lift the Ballon d’Or next year. Mbappé has club and international opportunities to win silverware and beef up his candidacy.
