Di Maria defends Messi Ballon d’Or, tells critic to “go cry somewhere else”
Angel Di Maria took to Instagram to respond to Lothar Matthaus’ remarks questioning the legitimacy of Lionel Messi’s Ballon d’Or win.
The Argentine player, who shares the national team with Messi, responded to the legendary German footballer’s critique of the Ballon d’Or selection.
Matthaus, a known admirer of the 36-year-old, had suggested that the Golden Ball should have gone to Erling Haaland rather than the Argentine maestro, whose most recent Ballon d’Or win on Monday increased his total to eight.
Lionel Messi’s noteworthy contributions included his seven goals in the World Cup and being recognized as the tournament’s best player after Argentina’s victory over France in the final in Doha, Qatar.
However, the Barcelona icon, who had clinched his first Ballon d’Or in 2009, experienced a relatively underwhelming final season with PSG before embarking on a journey to play for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
On the other hand, Haaland delivered exceptional performances at the club level, shattering nearly every conceivable goal-scoring record during his debut season with Manchester City, culminating in a historic treble-winning achievement.
Despite Haaland’s remarkable individual and team accomplishments, which included an astonishing 52 goals in 53 matches across all competitions, he could only secure the second position in the 2023 Ballon d’Or rankings.
Lothar Matthaus, a previous recipient of the prestigious award in 1990, criticized the decision as a “farce” in response to this.
“Over the whole of last year, Haaland performed better than Lionel Messi,” he told Sky.
Matthaus added: “It’s undeserved that Messi won. But that shows that a World Cup counts more than anything else.”
In a swift response, Messi’s compatriot, Di María, quickly stepped in to refute the German’s comment.
“Go cry somewhere else (A llorar a otro lado)” he commented, as noted by Spanish newspaper AS, followed by a laughing emoji.”