Ballon d’Or for Mbappé? Czech journalist explains why he voted for the PSG star in the famous poll

Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or for the eighth time in his career at Monday’s gala in Paris, leaving behind his two great rivals – Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland. Stanislav Hrabě, a Czech journalist, took part in the voting and in an exclusive interview with Ruik he explained his reasons for putting the Frenchman Mbappe in first place.

Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Luka Modric and Rodri. This is exactly the order that Czech journalist Stanislav Hrabě voted for in the Golden Ball poll. He was one of the few who did not place the star Argentine, who last December added the most valuable trophy to his collection of achievements – the World Cup winner’s trophy.

In an exclusive interview with Ruik, the experienced Czech journalist revealed why he made this decision. It should be noted, however, that for the second time in history the performance of individual players was not evaluated for a calendar year, but for a season.

And that included the aforementioned World Cup in Qatar. “For me, the World Cup in Qatar was decisive, on the club scene it was evenly matched (in terms of contribution to the team),” said Count Ruiku.

Purely in terms of statistics, Messi played 41 competitive games for PSG in 2022/23, scoring 21 goals and contributing an assist in another 15. In this perspective, Mbappé is clearly better off.

The 24-year-old PSG star has started 43 games in the 2022/23 season and has a record of 41 goals scored and 10 assists.

A Ballon d’Or for Mbappé?

Messi became the top scorer of the Leagues Cup with ten shots, while Mbappé became the top scorer of Ligue 1 and also the player of the year of the French top flight. Both won the title with PSG. And the national team level?

“All in all, Argentina won the World Cup, but technically the final ended in a draw. The winner was decided by an added criterion, namely shots from the penalty kick mark. While Argentina didn’t always look confident (alluding to the match with Saudi Arabia – ed.), France were dominant. Yes, the final wasn’t great at first, but then Mbappé scored three goals to save France.

The fact that he succeeded in the penalty shootout as well as Messi is already added value. Both were undoubtedly the biggest personalities of this tournament. For me, Mbappé was more important for his team in the context of the whole championship. But there could be no mistake in the final decision because both were excellent,” he explained his choice and thus also closed the topic.

Source: Ballon d’Or, Ruik