Justice for Haaland: Man City star beats Messi to award after Ballon d'Or snub

Erling Haaland has beaten Lionel Messi to the Golden Player Man at the 2023 Golden Boy event in Turin. 

He won it because he helped Manchester City win three big trophies in June. 

The award goes to the best players over 21, and a group of experts, including Edwin Van Der Sar, Alessandro Costacurta, Samuel Eto’o, Andriy Shevchenko, Rui Costa, and Pavel Nedved, decided it.

Even though Lionel Messi won against Haaland in some other awards recently, like the 2023 Ballon d’Or, the Golden Boy is different. It looks at how players did in the whole year, not just the previous season. 

This means Messi's World Cup win with Argentina didn't matter for this award in 2023, unlike at the Ballon d’Or.

Haaland had an amazing year in the Premier League, breaking records, scoring 52 goals in 53 games and helping Manchester City to a historic treble.