2023 was a great year for football, to say the least. It was a year filled with immortalized glory, landscape-shifting transfers, sale sagas, and non-stop drama.
Pep Guardiola finally claimed a Champions League title for the Sky Blues, which was the elephant in the room for the Spaniard during his tenure at Etihad Stadium.
Aside from Man City’s Champions League glory and winning the historic treble, other year-defining football news includes Messi winning his eighth Ballon d’Or, which we’ll get into further down in the article; CR7 rocking the whole football world and moving to the Saudi Pro League; Jim Ratcliffe purchasing a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United; and an Osimhen-led Napoli winning the Serie A.
Amidst all the noise 2023 made, a select few gleamed the most and deserve recognition. Osimhen, Bellingham, Harry Kane, Man City players Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, and many others made the year special, but here are three of the brightest stars of 2023.
Lionel Messi
After winning the World Cup in 2022, the Argentine legend is now considered by the majority to be the greatest of all time. Adding a third star to his nation’s kit was also a pivotal needle mover for Messi to win his eighth Ballon d’Or, widening his lead over Cristiano Ronaldo, who trails Messi with five Ballon d’Or trophies.
These distinctions alone are more than enough to make a case for Messi to be one of the best, if not the best, footballers of 2023.
In his domestic leagues, Messi spent the first half of 2023 with the French outfit Paris Saint-Germain, where he made 41 appearances in the 2022–23 Ligue 1 campaign, scoring 21 goals and claiming 20 assists.
He then signed one of the most attractive contracts with MLS contenders Inter Miami. The Herons Vice were struggling prior to the arrival of the Argentine messiah, but lo and behold, upon his arrival, Messi immediately made his presence felt by winning the 2023 Leagues Cup title with his new team.
With that, Messi now has 44 combined trophies for club and country. And he is poised to claim even more silverware after the signing of Luiz Suarez and other key additions.
Erling Halaand
Halaand dominated the Premier League, the most competitive top flight, at the tender age of 23. The Manchester City striker won the 2022–23 Golden Boot award by scoring a whopping 36 goals in just 35 matches played, six goals clear of second-placed Harry Kane with 30 goals.
His brilliance was felt not just in the English top flight but around the world. Halaand’s world-class performance in the 2022–23 season granted him the Gerd Müller Trophy (previously the Striker of the Year Award) by garnering the highest tally of goals for both domestic clubs and national teams.
Only Halaand and Polish superstar Robert Lewandowski have received the prestigious award.
But none of these recognitions garners as much significance as the main reason why Erling Halaand joins this list. The 23-year-old is one of the best footballers in 2023 due to his monumental accomplishment in winning the treble with Manchester City.
During the 2022–23 season, Pep Guardiola, Erling Halaand, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Rodri, John Stones, and the rest of the Sky Blues have done what only Manchester United back in 1998–99 have been able to pull off: win the Premier League, FA Cup, and the Champions League all in one season.
The continental treble may be the hardest thing an outfit can pull off, and to do it in England makes it all the more impressive.
Kylian Mbappe
After winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the tender age of 19, Kylian Mbappe led France in the 2022 World Cup all the way to the final and stunned the world with the most inspiring performance on the biggest stage of football.
Despite falling to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final, Mbappe still looked like the best player in the entire tournament—at least this SBOTOP writer thinks so. The Frenchman was the leading scorer of the tournament, scoring eight crucial goals in seven matches played. By carrying his team to back-to-back World Cup finals, the PSG star cemented himself as one of the top footballers in the entire world.
In his domestic campaigns, Mbappe was awarded his fourth Ligue 1 Player of the Year for the 2022-2023 season. Adding another individual award, the left-winger secured his fifth-straight Ligue 1 Golden Boot by scoring 29 goals, two goals clear of Lyon’s centre-forward, Alexandre Lacazette.
With Mbappe leading the way for Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappe and the rest of his teammates raised the L’Hexagoal, fending off a threatening Lens, who fell short by just two points to claim the title.
Despite Mbappe’s impending departure from the winningest club in Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain are eight points clear of Nice in the league standings with no signs of slowing down, which is why they could still be the favourites in the football odds to win the French league this season.
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