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Football fans online believe that Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Argentina forward Lionel Messi will win the FIFA Men's Best Player of 2022 in a landslide.
This is mostly down to him winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar last month. Messi was Argentina's best player at the showpiece tournament and won the Golden Ball. The forward scored seven goals and provided three assists at the World Cup. This included a brace in the World Cup final against France, which Argentina won after a penalty shootout.
He has been nominated alongside some of the other superstar players who have also had an outstanding calendar year in 2022. These include the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema, and Erling Haaland.
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All of the nominees for the FIFA Men's Best Player of 2022 can be seen below:
Football fans on Twitter, however, firmly believe that the former FC Barcelona forward will walk away with the prestigious individual award. Some even stated that there is no point in even nominating other players for the award, while others said Messi always wins awards he doesn't deserve.
Here are a few tweets in that regard:
The FIFA Men's Best Player Award is a relatively new award. The first iteration of this individual accolade was awarded back in 2016 with Cristiano Ronaldo lifting the prize.
Former Bayern Munich and current Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski was the winner of the FIFA Men's Best Player of 2021, having secured 48 points. Messi was the runner-up, having scored just four points fewer than the Polish forward.
It is, however, worth pointing out that the Argentine skipper did lift the award back in 2019. He finished ahead of Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and his long-term rival Ronaldo.
Lionel Messi scored on his return to club football as PSG secured a routine win over Angers
Lionel Messi returned to the starting XI for PSG for the first time since the completion of the World Cup against Angers on January 11. The forward had received an extended break from the Parisian giants to allow him to celebrate his World Cup triumph in Argentina.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, however, quickly got into his groove. He scored the second goal of the game as Christophe Galtier's side registered a 2-0 win over Angers in Ligue 1. Hugo Ekitike was the other goalscorer for the Ligue 1 leaders.
The Argentine forward has had an excellent 2022-23 season for PSG. He has contributed 13 goals and 14 assists from 20 matches across all competitions.
