Iker Casillas questioned The Best, the FIFA award dedicated to Messi, and was trashed online

This Monday, Lionel Messi won the award for the third time Best FIFA Player The bestin a historic and close vote with the Norwegians Erling Haaland which was defined by the number of captains who chose the symbol and reference of the world champion team in Qatar 2022. Leo, that is, was chosen by his own colleagues. Even if one of them, the former archer Iker Casillasquestioned the award.

The suffrage of the prizes The best of FIFA It was based on the participation of captains and coaches of the national teams, journalists and fans who brought Messi, Haaland and the Frenchman Kylian Mbappe to share the shortlist to define the most outstanding footballer of the period included between 19 December 2022 and 20 August 2023.

As reported by FIFA, each captain, coach and journalist chose their three favorite players, awarding 5 points to the first, 3 to the second and 1 to the third.

The Rosary and the Norwegian, with 48 pointsthey relegated the French (35) and FIFA, to proclaim the winner, appealed to article 12 of the Assignment Rules, which weighs the votes of the captains. In this match Messi scored 677 points compared to Haaland’s 557.

Messi won against Haaland in the vote fanswith 613,293 against 365,893, but was surpassed in journalists (729 vs. 315) and coaches (541 vs. 476).

The complex system that left Messi as the winner has attracted criticism in different parts of the world, especially in Spain and more precisely in Madrid, the home of Real Madrid which for years had Leo as a rival in the classics. A White House official, Iker Casillas, went further and tweeted about it.

“Good prizes are created and you’re taking them away by not doing things well. ‘The Smile’ is more similar. Anyway, goodnight!”, joked the former Real goalkeeper, world champion with the Spanish national team in 2010.

Even though he did not mention Leo in his comment, the public interpreted Casillas’ words as if they were addressed to Messi. And they responded with all kinds of messages, some memes and an old invoice from 2012.

“Iker, Messi scored you the best goal in the entire history of the Champions League,” he wrote, referring to the 2011 Real-Barca duel, in which the Argentine star scored one against Maradona in the European competition.

Another fooled him with a marketing strategy implemented by a beer brand when Messi reached 644 goals in Barcelonasurpassing Pelé’s record with the most goals in the same club: they gave a glass of “beer” for every goal conceded to each goalkeeper he conceded against Rosario, and Casillas received 17.

Among these there were also those who mentioned who decided to give their vote to Messi Luca Modric AND Federico ValverdeReal Madrid 2024 emblems.

But among so many accusations there was a good football argument to respond to poor Iker: they reminded him of who he had voted for for the 2012 Ballon d’Or, which also saw Leo as the winner. That year, the then Real captain had opted for Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi, in order, the first two of his teammates in the Merengue dressing room and the third, from Barcelona but world champion with Spain.

It is worth remembering that in the 2012 season Messi achieved a record that would be difficult to beat: he became the player with the most goals in a calendar year, with 91 goals. To take note of such a record, in 2023 the scorer of the year was Cristiano Ronaldo with 54. It wasn’t enough for Casillas.

The captains’ vote for Messi

Among the captains who voted for Messi, the Chilean stands out Gary Medel (with whom he had a discussion with the media at the 2019 Copa América); the Colombian Radamel Falcao; She said Luca Modric; the Ecuadorian Enner Valencia; To possess Mbappé; the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma; the Mexican Guillermo Ochoa; the Paraguayan Gustavo Gomez; the Egyptian Mohamed Salah is English Harry Kane.

Messi, who could not vote for himself, chose Haaland first, followed by Mbappé and the current Manchester City striker Giuliano Alvarezhis partner at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Among the coaches, the Rosario star was chosen by Lionel Scaloni; Marcelo Bielsa (Uruguay); the Brazilian Fernando Diniz; Eduardo Berizzo (led by Chile); Nestor Lorenzo (Colombia); and the Italian Luciano Spaletti, among others.

The 12 best FIFA The Best players were: Messi (48), Haaland (48), Mbappé (35); the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne (32); the Nigerian Victor Osimhen and the Spanish Rodri (24); Julian Álvarez (21); the Portuguese Bernardo Silva (18); the German Ilkay Gündogan (13); the Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and the Croatian Marcelo Brozovic (7); and the Englishman Declan Rice (1).