Lionel Messi’s votes for 2023 FIFA The Best Men’s Player award highlights who among Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe he wanted to win

Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi beat Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) forward Kylian Mbappe to win 2023 FIFA The Best Men's Player award.

Messi and Haaland both finished with 48 scoring points but the former was crowned the winner. This is due to the governing body setting a rule that the player with the most votes from national team captains will be crowned the winner.

Messi received 13 votes from captains as compared to Haaland's 11. The Argentine superstar, meanwhile, voted for Haaland as his first pick for 2023 FIFA The Best Men's Player award. According to the list released by FIFA, the 36-year-old's order of voting was as follows:

1. Erling Haaland
2. Kylian Mbappe
3. Julian Alvarez

Messi beat both Haaland and Mbappe to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or award as well. This was the Inter Miami superstar's third win since the awards were first handed out in 2016. He is now the outright leader on the list of players with the most FIFA Best Men's Player wins, overtaking Ronaldo (2).

It is worth mentioning that the criteria included the players' achievements from December 19, 2022, to August 20, 2023. Argentina won the 2022 FIFA World Cup final against France on penalties on December 18, 2022, with Lionel Messi winning the competition's Golden Ball award.

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Who did Kylian Mbappe vote for as first pick for 2023 FIFA The Best Men’s Player award out of Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland?

Kylian Mbappe's voting preference for 2023 FIFA The Best Men’s Player award was as follows:

1. Lionel Messi
2. Erling Haaland
3. Kevin de Bruyne

Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, ended the 2022-23 season with 41 goals and 10 assists in 43 games across competitions. 17 of those goals came in the 20 Ligue 1 games he played that season after the World Cup.

Mbappe was helpless as his team were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League last 16 by Bayern Munich (3-0 agg.). Haaland, meanwhile, was relentless as Manchester City bagged the treble in the last campaign. He netted 52 times in 53 games across competitions that season.

Haaland broke the record for most Premier League goals in a season (36 in 35 games) and won the Champions League Golden Boot (12 goals). He scored 18 times in the 22 league games that followed after the World Cup that season, while also netting seven in as many Champions League knockout games.

Messi, meanwhile, registered nine goals and six assists in the 19 Ligue 1 games he played in 2023. He scored five goals and provided an assist in the three international friendly games he played between January and September.

The former Barcelona superstar moved to Inter Miami last summer and played in the Leagues Cup, helping his team win the final on 20 August against Nashville on penalties. He scored 10 goals in seven games in the competition.