Alfie Haaland couldn’t hide his displeasure as Lionel Messi was named FIFA’s Best Men’s player on Monday evening ahead of his son, Erling.
The Manchester City goalscorer starred in his debut season in English football after guiding Pep Guardiola‘s side to the Treble last season with a 52-goal haul.
His exploits were enough to clinch City the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – becoming only the second-ever English team to do so – but weren’t evidently enough to win him FIFA’s top individual honour.
Messi meanwhile enjoyed a relatively quiet year in comparison after winning the World Cup with Argentina at the end of 2022 as he called time on his career in Europe to join Inter Miami.
However, the Argentine superstar’s global status as one of history’s greatest players still evidently counts for something as he finished above Haaland and Kylian Mbappe on the three-man shortlist.
Erling Haaland finished second in FIFA’s Best Men’s player award behind Lionel Messi
Alfie Haaland (right) appeared unimpressed as his son missed out on the Men’s player award to Messi (left)
It was a similar run of results after Haaland and Mbappe both missed out on the Ballon d’Or to Messi in October last year.
Haaland Snr was present at the Hammersmith Apollo for the awards ceremony and a momentary snapshot caught his immediate reaction to Messi being crowned winner.
The Norwegian plays a pivotal role in his son’s career and raised a questionable eyebrow after seeing Haaland denied the FIFA award for the top men’s player.
He then continued to maintain a stern expression while others in attendance clapped in recognition of Messi’s achievement, despite the Argentinian not being in attendance to receive the award.
Haaland Snr (right) is a huge supporter of his son’s career and is frequently seen at matches
Any sense of injustice was further comprehended when it was revealed that Messi and Haaland had tied on initial votes that were made by national team captains, coaches and fans.
The 36-year-old sealed his third Best title after the winner was decided by the highest number of five-point scores from the votes cast for the men’s national team captains.
