Angel Di Maria mocked Lothar Matthaus as the German legend stated Erling Haaland should have won the Ballon d’Or in 2023 instead of Lionel Messi.

Messi won the prized accolade for a record seventh time on Monday night, beating Manchester City attacker Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe. Former Germany midfielder Matthaus, however, called this a “farce,” pointing out that Haaland won the treble with City and scored 52 goals in all competitions last season. The 36-year-old, on the other hand, scored 21 goals for PSG but was instrumental in Argentina’s World Cup victory last year. While the deserved winner is debatable, fellow Argentine and Benfica winger Di Maria delivered a scathing rebuttal on an Instagram post that included a sample of the German’s anti-Messi comments.

“Haaland has done better than Messi for the entire year,” said Matthaus, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1990. Messi’s victory was undeserved. However, this demonstrates that a World Cup is more important than anything else. Haaland is, in my opinion, the best player of the last 12 months. With Manchester City, he won major trophies and set goalscoring records. There is no getting around Haaland for me. Even though I am a Messi admirer, the option is a joke.”

When Diario. ole publicized some of Matthaus’ comments on Instagram, Di Maria responded, “Go cry somewhere else.”

Messi, who now plays for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, is nearing the end of his career but remains one of the best players in the world. He is still demonstrating his worth on the international scene and is, without a doubt, one of the finest to ever play the game.

Messi will play for Argentina later this month, while Haaland will play for City against Bournemouth on Saturday.