Lionel Messi skipped his Argentina teammate Alejandro Garnacho in his vote for the 2024 Ballon Young Player of the Year.
As usual, 10 fast-rising young footballers made the final shortlist for the award with Garnacho, who starred for Manchester United last season, making the cut.
The 20-year-old won the FA Cup with Manchester United, including the 2024 Copa America with Argentina national team.
He was among the favorites to win the award alongside his Manchester United teammate Kobbie Mainoo, who finished among the top six in the rankings.
While Garnacho had a great campaign for club and country in the said year, he was obviously down the pecking order compared to other nominees with more brilliant shots in the year.
However, the promising youngster was expected to receive the backing of his Argentina teammates to stand a chance of beating the competition to clinch the laurel.
Now, voting results, as released by Ballon d’Or organizers, have shown Alejandro Garnacho and some other nominees lost the vote of their national team pals.
How Lionel Messi voted in the 2024 Kopa Trophy
Argentina footballing icon and Barcelona legend Lionel Messi skipped the footballer on his voting order for the award.
Messi’s first vote went to Barcelona youngster Lamine Yamal who emerged winner of the award. His second vote also went to another Barcelona and Spanish footballer Pau Cubarsi.
Alejandro Garnacho only came third on the Argentina compatriot’s pick, showing that he was not the footballer’s priority take for the award.
While this may raise eyebrows due to the uncanny relationship between Lionel Messi and Alejandro Garnacho, it is pertinent to note the footie ace must have cast his vote discretely based on the performance of the nominees without consideration of national team affiliations.
Lamine Yamal clearly had a better run in the 2023-24 football season than Garnacho. The Barcelona youngster won 2024 Euros, becoming the youngest player to score in an international tournament in decades.
He also won the Young Player of the Tournament following a standout performance throughout the competition.
Although his league tally fell short of Garnacho’s in the season, Lamine Yamal accentuated brilliance for Barcelona, balancing exciting football with playmaking and great goal-scoring skills.
Alejandro Garnacho and Lionel Messi relationship
Messi must have sublimely cast his vote based solely on the performances of the players in question. However, he is not likely to escape scrutiny due to his uncanny relationship with Garnacho.
Despite sharing an international future with Messi in the Argentina national team, Garnacho has been a big fan of Lionel Messi’s rival, Cristiano Ronaldo. The youngster is known for flaunting and wearing Cristiano Ronaldo’s trademark goal celebrations.
He has drifted more to the Ronaldo side on the GOAT DEBATE – an overture that has been found incongruent given his closeness to Messi in the Argentina national team.
While some fans are likely to point to the purported difficult relationship between the duo as the reason for his snub in the 2024 Kopa Trophy vote, that may not be the case.
Lamine Yamal has been the new big thing in football. The Barcelona youngster has earned rave reviews from legends of the sport, including Lionel Messi and this must have influenced the latter’s 2024 Kopa Trophy vote.
