Lionel Messi was named the FIFA The Best male player for 2023, amid many pundits and fan uproar who felt that the award should have gone to Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.
Nonetheless many of the captains, including USMNT’s and AC Milan winger Christian Pulisic, voted that the Inter Miami superstar should be awarded the prize. Messi himself selected Haaland as his first choice, giving the Manchester City superstar five points; with former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe in second place (three points) and fellow countryman Julian Alvarez as his third option (one point).
One of the loudest voices for who actually won the award and for the starting XI formation chosen for the year of 2023, was former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas who took to X to air his grievances.
Iker Casillas on the FIFA The Best starting XI
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On X, Iker Casillas tweeted, “1-3-3-4, It is not a lottery number. It is not the telephone code of a country. It is not my password for my iPhone. It’s the new football game system!! For the next starting 11, it is better to put a 1-10.”
Casillas shared the sentiment of many who believed the Best starting XI was too disbalanced and attack oriented. The FIFPro men’s world XI is as follows: Courtois; Walker, Stones, Dias; Bernardo Silva, Bellingham, De Bruyne; Messi, Haaland, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Casillas vents on The Best winner
The former Spanish World Cup winner also took a jab at Lionel Messi winning the award by tweeting, “You create some nice prizes, and you are taking them away by not doing things fairly. “The Smile” is more like it. Anyway, good night!”
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The tweet is in reference to Manchester City’s Haaland not winning the award based on the merit that the Norwegian international won various titles with Man City over 2023 and was the standout player of the team many consider right now to be the best in the world.
