Lionel Messi reigned supreme in FIFA’s latest edition of ‘The Best’ award show, where he bagged the top-most prize at the end of the ceremony.
After helping Argentina win the Qatar World Cup and being arguably the most influential player in the tournament, Messi added another feather to his cap of crowns by winning FIFA’s Best Men’s Player of the Year award.
The Argentine forward won the award after being voted the best by the majority of national team coaches, captains as well as renowned journalists from all over the world.
He was able to beat out stiff competition from the likes of PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe as well as Real Madrid star Karim Benzema.
In the final vote result that was made public after the ceremony, it was clear that Messi won the voting rounds from captains, coaches as well as fans too. He dominated the charts and comprehensively bagged the trophy to dispel any accusations of winning the trophy because of some bias.
Benzema bitter over losing FIFA award to Messi
While the majority of his competitors have seemed to accept the decision with utmost grace, Benzema does not seem happy with it at all.
The Frenchman actually refused to attend the ceremony itself – knowing that he wouldn’t win. Instead of making any public statement, he appears to have started throwing a tantrum on social media.
Of course, Benzema could be bitter to see some of his ‘mates’ also vote for Messi over him.
David Alaba definitely did that as the Austrian national team captain, for which he became a victim of racial abuse from Real Madrid fans.
Benzema on IG posting a video that says: “Liar. You lie.” with the caption of “Goodnight.” pic.twitter.com/VNPEM1x0b6
Soon after the ceremony ended up with Messi lifting the Best Men’s Player trophy, Benzema posted a cryptic little video on his Instagram stories. It shows a man saying ‘Liar. You Lie,’ in the clip with the caption stating ‘good night’.
Benzema starts a tantrum on social media
Now it’s still uncertain whether this video was a dig at Alaba for not voting him over Messi or at FIFA for ‘handing’ the trophy to the PSG star. But his tantrums didn’t even seem to stop with that little video either.
The day after losing the title to Messi, Benzema also tweeted a picture of himself standing beside a luxurious car looking at his phone with the caption ‘I got there alone’.
This might seem to incur that there is nobody to support him in such award shows or that he received little to no support in his rise to the top at Real Madrid.
Benzema boasts about his achievements over Messi
The Frenchman then decided to show off his accomplishments and try to ‘statistically prove’ why he was a worthier winner of the FIFA Best Men’s Player award over anybody else.
He also later reposted a screenshot of a post made by his fan account on Instagram, detailing all his achievements from August 2021-December 2022 – which was the period of consideration by FIFA for this award.
The post was basically showing off everything he’s done over the last year or so. It flaunts him scoring 63 goals and providing 21 assists at that time – while being a Champions League, UEFA Nations League, La Liga, FIFA Club World Cup and even a Spanish Super Cup winner.
Moreover, his achievements of being the top scorer in La Liga and Champions League – as well as providing the most number of assists in both competitions are also shown off.
The post also indicates how he won the La Liga and Champions League MVP titles as well as the Ballon d’Or during this period. Benzema has always had the reputation of being a humble player who isn’t that obsessed with the spotlight.
But this bizarre tantrum might indicate that winning the Ballon d’Or brought a change in his character and has made him an egotistical, insecure player who has only made a mockery of himself with these antics.
Lionel Messi should just post this on his IG story in response to Benzema's tears😂😂 pic.twitter.com/DzW8BtbYWf
