Ballon d’Or: Angel Di Maria responds to criticism from Lothar Matthaus regarding awarding the award to Lionel Messi

Angel Di Maria has responded sharply to criticism from Lothar Matthaus for awarding the Ballon d’Or to Lionel Messi.

“Cry somewhere else,” the 35-year-old wrote on Instagram under a report from Argentine sports newspaper Olé on the subject – clearly directed at Mateus.

The German international described Messi’s election as a “farce” over Sky and instead voted for Manchester City’s Erling Haaland as the winner.

“For me there is no way to beat Haaland! For me, Haaland is the best player of the last twelve months, who has won major titles with Manchester City and broken goalscoring records in the process. The selection is a farce, even though I am a footballer.” “Messi fan,” the 62-year-old said.

He continued: “Over the course of the entire last year, Haaland’s performance was better than Messi. Messi’s victory is undeserved. But this shows that the World Cup is more important than anything else.”

Messi led Argentina to its first title since 1986 at the World Cup in Qatar. The 36-year-old scored seven goals in the tournament. Two of them in a very exciting final against France (4:2 on penalties).

Haaland won the treble with the Citizens in the summer and was one of the biggest pillars of Pep Guardiola’s side with 52 goals in 53 matches in all competitions.

For Messi, it was the eighth Ballon d’Or award of his career, while Haaland still has to wait for his first Ballon d’Or.