FIFA The Best 2022: Lionel Messi won the award for men's best player. However, when it came to voting, the Argentine had his chance to vote, and he reportedly voted for his PSG teammate Neymar ahead of his fellow PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe.
Argentine superstar Lionel Messi is back at the top. He has been recognised as the best men's footballer of 2022 by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), winning the FIFA The Best award in Paris on Monday. Having scored goals aplenty, he was recognised for playing a pivotal role in Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG's) success, alongside Argentina's FIFA World Cup success in Qatar.
The winner is declared based on voting by the players nominated. Following the event, the voting list by the players was revealed by FIFA, and it turns out that Messi had voted his fellow PSG teammate Neymar at the top, followed by his co-PSG teammate Neymar. Incidentally, the Brazilian still needs to make it to the final three in the men's category, leaving fans baffled.
On the other hand, Mbappe too was phenomenal for PSG last year, besides being on a spree during the World Cup, leading France into the final and finishing as the highest goal-scorer of the competition. Meanwhile, Messi's great friendship with Neymar since their Barcelona days might have led to some biasedness here.
Elsewhere, former Real Madrid defender Pepe had also put in his vote, which interestingly did not include Messi in his list, raising quite some eyebrows. However, it should not be surprising, given Pepe's close relationship with his former Los Blancos teammate and Portuguese sensation Cristiano Ronaldo, the Argentine's long-time rival.
Also, Mohamed Salah's votes intrigued all who did not put Messi's name in the top three, while he voted for Vinicius Junior, followed by Kevin De Bruyne and Achraf Hakimi. Nevertheless, despite some bias during the voting, Messi and Mbappe have a great on-field connection, while if it gets affected hereon remains to be seen.