Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi lifted a record eight Ballon d’Or last Monday, but his win hasn’t been universally accepted. The award is decided by the vote of 100 football journalists, who crowned Messi the best player in the world. Others, however, have criticized the decision.

The biggest name to criticize Messi’s win was another Ballon d’Or winner, Germany’s Lothar Matthäus, who argued that Norwegian striker Erling Haaland should have won. “The choice is a farce,” he told Sky Germany, despite declaring himself a Messi fan. “It’s undeserved that Messi won. But that shows that the World Cup counted more than anything else. For me, there is no way around Haaland.”

Haaland, a striker for Manchester City, was one of the favorites for the award after a record-breaking season that saw him score 56 goals across all competitions and win the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League.

Messi’s Albiceleste teammate, Ángel Di María, responded on Instagram that Matthäus should “go cry somewhere else”. Matthäus himself won his sole Ballon d’Or after lifting the 1990 World Cup with West Germany.

“If you win the Ballon d’Or playing in the MLS it means we are all crazy,” said former Chilean national team striker Mauricio Pinilla, who won the Copa América in 2015 and 2016 with La Roja, both times against Messi’s Argentina.

Alternatively, he ironically suggested, perhaps the American league had become a footballing powerhouse overnight? 

“It was all about the World Cup,” he added. “I don’t understand why they give an award for the full year if only one competition is going to be counted. I don’t think Messi has been the best.”

Pinilla also trashed the decision to award the Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper of the season to Argentina’s Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, a choice he said “borders on the ridiculous.”

Messi’s historical Ballon d’Or rival, Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo, didn’t comment on the award — but liked a salty Instagram post by Spanish journalist Tomás Roncero, and replied with laughing emojis.

“He won the World Cup, yes,” wrote Roncero, a known Real Madrid fan. “But he also had a record six penalties in his favor. And this happened 10 or 11 months ago, I’ve already forgotten. The World Cup in Qatar is a distant memory, it was in 2022, we are almost in November.”

Ronaldo, currently playing for Al-Nassr, faced “Messi, Messi” chants this Tuesday, during his team’s 1-0 win against Al-Ettifaq in the King’s Cup round of 16. The Portuguese striker reacted by shushing them with a finger on his lips.Most in the footballing world celebrated Messi’s win. Both Kylian Mbappé and Haaland, the Argentine’s closest competitors for the award, congratulated him on social media, while Albiceleste teammate Lautaro Martínez insisted that had it not been for Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi would’ve won 15 Ballon d’Or awards.