Messi dedicates Ballon d'Or to Diego Maradona

Lionel Messi dedicated the trophy to late Argentina legend Diego Maradona, who would have celebrated his 63rd birthday on Monday. “Happy birthday Diego. This is for you too,” he said. Messi may have suffered during his career from comparisons with his compatriot Diego Maradona for not winning the World Cup until 2022, when he silenced his critics by leading Argentina to the title for the first time since 1986, two years after Maradona's death. Messi clinched his eighth Ballon d'Or on October 30. Staged at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris, Messi emerged victorious over other football luminaries like Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.  Making the moment poignant, he commemorated Argentina's late football legend Diego Maradona, who would have turned 63 on the same day. It was David Beckham, co-owner of Inter Miami, who presented Messi with the Ballon d'Or. "Happy birthday, Diego. This is for you too," AFP quoted him as saying. "This is a gift to the whole Argentina team for what we achieved." Messi, after winning the World Cup for Argentina in 2022, wished Maradona was alive to see his country become world champions again. It was Maradona who led Argentina to a historic win in the 1986 World Cup. "I would have liked Diego to give me the cup, or at least to see all this, to see Argentina as world champions, with everything he wanted and how he loved the national team. I think from above, he – like a lot of people who love me – was strong," Messi said that time. Messi faced intense competition, notably from Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and France's Kylian Mbappe. Haaland, with Manchester City, scored 52 goals in 53 games. However, he had to be content with second place in the Ballon d'Or race.