Messi had impressive achievements last season, but a stain could cause him to lose the 8th noble title of his career.

The 2023 Golden Ball race is still extremely exciting, the top 30 candidates have been selected, but the two brightest candidates for this title have been identified by experts as Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland.

The competition between the two top superstars of world football is still going on and the person who achieves the above achievement must have all the most quintessential elements of a player, but recently Messi has been considered a stickler. There must be a bit of unwanted “terrorism”.

Specifically, referee Mateu Lahoz said Lionel Messi “behaved very badly” with him at the 2022 World Cup. In the quarter-final match in Qatar, between Argentina and the Netherlands, the Spanish referee drew 17 cards. yellow and one red card. It was a very fierce match and the team from the land of Tango had to work very hard to win a close victory on penalties. Mateu Lahoz made decisions that made both teams angry and Messi made disparaging words about the referee’s qualifications.

The Spanish king in black told Tiempo de Juego about what he had to endure from Messi, before receiving an apology from the player who won the Golden Ball seven times.

The referee said: “Leo Messi called me after the World Cup match against the Netherlands and apologized for the harsh words he said to me during the match. He was a different Messi in that match. He behaved very badly at the World Cup, it was embarrassing. I have refereed 50 matches with Messi.”

Obviously, Messi has left a bad impression from those around him, even though the 36-year-old star eventually won the world’s most prestigious title, but that stain could be a minus point for him. The Golden Ball voting regulations have factors based on individual achievements, team achievements and finally the player’s fair-play score. Leo may have lost part of his fair play points and that will be a big advantage for Man City star Erling Haaland.