Ballon d’Or 2023: Haaland told to shun prize if Messi wins again

Former Chelsea player, Craig Burley, has challenged Manchester City’s Erling Haaland to shun the Ballon d’Or event for life if he doesn’t win this year’s prize.

Haaland has been put in the 30-man shortlist for the prize, which will be handed out in Paris on October 30.

Inter Miami superstar, Lionel Messi, who has already won the prize seven times, is regarded to be favourites to win it home again.

The 36-year-old ended his trophy-laden career with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar last December.

However, Burley believes Haaland should win it.

“This award, like a few awards, drives me nuts but he’s the one that deserves it but I think out there it will be full of sentimental claptrap – Messi won the World Cup, Messi’s this and Messi’s that, and they will just hand him another one.

“And if I was Erling Haaland, I would never go back to another Ballon d’Or in my life, same as Robert Lewandowski,” Burley stated on ESPN.