Kylian Mbappe: French football superstar believes Lionel Messi deserved to win eighth Balon D’Or; citing World Cup triumph to be main factor

Kylian Mbappe has ultimately decided on his favorite superstar and has settled on the Balon D’Or debate as he weighed on his former teammate Lionel Messi who deserved to win the prestigious award. Messi won the Balon D’Or for a record eighth time, surpassing his generational rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who has his name on the trophy for five times.

Kylian Mbappe chooses Messi as the deserving star to win Balon D’Or

Kylian Mbappe has been a French football stalwart over last few years. His career was documented with a meteoric rise after some heroic performances with AS Monaco in UEFA Champions League, and soon joined French Ligue 1 giants PSG over a record transfer. Few days ago, he notched up his 250th club goal, and entered the history books owing to his prolific finesse. Having won the World Cup in 2018 where he was undisputedly the player of the tournament, Mbappe’s career shoot up and was soon named one of the greatest stars in French football. He have experienced some of the greatest fantasies in football, having played with some of the greatest stars ever to grace the football field, which includes Lionel Messi and Neymar in the list.

The enterprising trio of Messi-Neymar-Mbappe broke off this season with the Argentine World Cup winner plying his trade in Inter Miami, while Neymar decided to try his luck out in the Middle-East, playing for Al-Hilal. Coincidentally, Messi had defeated Mbappe’s national side in the finals of FIFA World Cup in 2022, held in Qatar, after which rumors of an intra-club rift arose between the superstars, with Mbappe refusing to take the field with Messi. Last month, Messi got his name etched in record books by winning Balon D’Or for the record eighth time, surpassing Mbappe and Haaland among his competitors.

Messi’s Balon D’Or- undeserving?

Many people had felt that Lionel Messi, the Argentine World Cup winner, did not deserve the award. In spite of achieving several laurels with the clubs (Inter Miami and PSG) and most coveted prize in the form of World Cup, some people were under the impression that Messi won the award undeservingly. Along with Messi, other two nominees of this prestigious Balon D’Or was Manchester City and Norway star Erling Haaland and PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe. Messi’s exploits in the World Cup helped him etch his name in the record books, and according to several pundits this laurel took him past Mbappe and Haaland, although they had prolific records in the past season.

Mbappe decided to weigh on his answer to who should have won Balon D’Or, as he had fully supported and applauded Messi to win it. He was heard saying ahead of France’s match against Gibraltar, “Messi deserves it. On the evening of the 18th (of December), I knew he’d won the World Cup and the Balon d’Or. I had a great season, like Haaland, but when you win the World Cup, that makes the difference.”

Thus, it would be safe to say that Mbappe had always known since 18th December, 2022 (the day when Argentina and Messi scripted history), that his former PSG teammate Messi would scoop the prestigious award, thus supporting him in his life ahead. The World cup did play a major role in deciding Balon D’Or winners, with Luka Modric winning it in 2018, owing to his herculean efforts to take Croatia on the final of a World Cup, eventually losing against France.