The ceremony to award the Ballon d’Or is not too far off, and as a result, rumors regarding who would be the recipient of the renowned honor have been picking up momentum in the recent weeks.

After leading Argentina to victory at the FIFA World Cup in December, former Barcelona captain and club legend Lionel Messi is now considered one of the top contenders to take home the Golden Orb for the eighth time in his career.

Erling Haaland, a striker for Manchester City, is also in the running for the award because he contributed to his team’s unprecedented treble by scoring more than 50 goals in the previous season and helping them win the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.

Recently, the manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, was questioned regarding his preference for Messi or Haaland to win the Ballon d’Or award.

Messi’s career benefited tremendously from Guardiola’s guidance, as the two of them did incredible things together at Barcelona. Now that he’s the manager of Man City, the former coach of Barcelona is getting the best out of Haaland.

And when asked who he thinks should win the Ballon d’Or this year, Guardiola had an excellent reaction, as he stated (h/t Sam Lee): “I’ve always said there should be two sections: one for Messi and one for the others.”

To provide further clarification on the topic at hand, the former manager of Barcelona stated as follows: “Haaland should win yes or yes, he scored 50 million goals. But Messi, even his worst season was better than the others combined. Both are deserving of it.

“If I’m being honest, a part of me wants to say that I want Erling because he helped us, but Leo won the World Cup.” It’s great that so many players from Manchester City will be attending.

There are several players from Barcelona who have been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, including Ilkay Gundogan and Robert Lewandowski, for example. However, it seems that Messi or Haaland will end up being the one to take home the trophy.