Messi led Argentina to their first FIFA World Cup title in 36 years after they beat France in the final in Qatar, while Mbappe was also a the shining star at the tournament, scoring a hat-trick for Les Bleus in the title-decider.
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Paris Saint-Germain duo Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema have been shortlisted for FIFA Best Men’s Player Award 2022. The trio of superstars were selected from an original list of 14 entries thanks to an equally shared vote between national team coaches, captains, journalists and fans. Messi led Argentina to their first FIFA World Cup title in 36 years after they beat France in the final in Qatar. Mbappe, meanwhile, was also a the shining star during the Qatar World Cup, having scored a hat-trick for France in the title-decider and winning the Golden Boot award. Benzema, on the other hand, led Real Madrid to win the La Liga Santander and the UEFA Champions League last season. The winner will be announced at a February 27 ceremony in Paris.
The finalists are in for each category for #TheBest FIFA Football Awards! 🏆
The winners will be announced at #TheBest ceremony on 27 February.
Who would you like to see named #TheBest?
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) February 10, 2023
The year 2022 will be remembered as the year of Messi. The Argentina captain finally won the World Cup in his fifth attempt. The 35-year-old scored an impressive six goals in Qatar, while providing three assists to win the Golden Ball award. Meanwhile, two of his goals came in the final, which ended 3-3 in 120 minutes of play, before La Albiceleste prevailed 4-2 in penalties. The former Barcelona-man will be aiming to win his second FIFA Best award after securing the crown in 2019. Messi won his six previous awards when it was called the FIFA World Player of the year (2009), the FIFA Ballon d’Or in each year from 2010-12 and again in 2015.
This edition is the first time Mbape has been on the final shortlist. The 24-year-old Frenchman produced one of the finest individual performances in a World Cup, when he scored three goals in the final to force the game into penalties and netted his fourth of the night from 12 yards, but unfortunately ended up on the losing side. Meanwhile, he was the top scorer in Qatar, with nine scalps to his name. The PSG striker was also the top scorer for the Parisians in Ligue 1 and their best player last season.
Benzema, on the other hand, is the current holder of the more prestigious Ballon d’Or award organised by France Football magazine. The Frenchman missed the World Cup because of a quadricep injury. However, the 35-year-old had a stellar 2021-22 season with Real Madrid, scoring a whopping 43 goals across all competitions, while registering 14 assists. Although Benzema has been struggling with injuries this season, he has managed to find the back of the net 13 times in 17 appearances for the Los Blancos.
Twitter was buzzing as the people were going crazy about Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema being shortlisted for the FIFA Best Men’s Player Award . Lets see some tweets and memes from some fans from all over the world.
🚨 Francesc Aguilar says that Messi will win “The Best” award from the FIFA. (@FApor_elmundo)
He was always right about the winners in the last few years ! pic.twitter.com/WMgfGvLT9x
— Jan (@FutbolJan10) February 10, 2023
FIFA The Best
🏟️ Matches: 83 – 74 – 68
⚽ Goals: 77 – 45 – 56
🅰️ Assists: 32 – 34 – 17
📊 G per game: 0.93 – 0.61 – 0.82
🔑 Chances created: 149 – 176 – 126
⚒️ Big Chances Created: 44 – 51 – 26
⚡ Dribbles: 250 – 221 – 66
🏆 Trophies: 2 – 4 – 5
🏅 Individual awards: 4 – 1 – 2 pic.twitter.com/6HGi5k9Pa5— Filipe (@filipexr7) February 10, 2023
🔝🙌 @Benzema Shortlisted for The Best FIFA Player of the Year Award 2022!#RealFootball pic.twitter.com/WoMxwyECE2
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) February 10, 2023
