Bernardo Silva's strong criticism of Lionel Messi for the Ballon d'Or

Manchester City won everything last season and crowned the year with winning the FIFA Club World Cup, but despite Erling Haaland's great level, he did not win the Ballon d'Or. For this reason, Bernardo Silva criticized the award received by Lionel Messi. The Norwegian was the top scorer, which allowed Pep Guardiola's team to win the Premier League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League for the first time in history. However, in the ceremony that took place two months ago, he did not receive the distinction.

In an interview with the Portuguese site A Bola, the midfielder defended his teammate. “Nowadays, when looking at individual trophies, people pay a lot of attention to statistics. Normally, the players who score the most goals win,” he said in this regard. And, along those lines, he expanded: “If Bayern wins the Champions League, the Bayern striker who scored 40 goals will win the Ballon d'Or. City wins it and coincidentally it wasn't Haaland, because Messi won the World Cup. However, if it weren't for the World Cup, Haaland would have won the Ballon d'Or."

In any case, the midfielder pointed out another aspect that displeases him. “Normally, the scorers end up winning individual awards. Yes I agree? Honestly, no. They can win, because sometimes they are even the most influential,” he indicated. Precisely, he continued: “Now, I don't agree with the idea that only those who score goals should win the Ballon d'Or, but that's how football works.” Furthermore, he pointed out the relevance of statistics without looking at the usual development of a match.

“They are worth little. I like to look at the games won, see which players have the highest winning percentage in the Champions League, the Premier League, because in the end the impact that a player has on a team is not only through goals or assists,” Silva added. And, annoyed by the way of analyzing, he explained: “We have reached a point in football in which we reach the exaggeration, in which a midfielder who scores 20 goals is better than one who scores 10, and it could be, but no. It is always like that, because there are many ways to play.”

Tremendous criticism of Bernardo Silva

The Manchester City midfielder questioned the decision to award the award to the Argentine and not to his teammate after a great campaign. “You have to look at the game as a whole and not just look at the statistics, because there are players with very different characteristics,” concluded the Portuguese National Team player, key to all the Citizens' achievements, who contributed five goals and three assists this season.