David Beckham explains why Lionel Messi deserves to win Ballon d’Or

Lionel Messi has been tipped by Sir David Beckham to win the Ballon d’Or for a ninth time after scoring his 100th Inter Miami goal to help defeat Cruz Azul and win the Campeones Cup.

Messi enjoyed a fine World Cup with Argentina reaching the final before defeat to champions Spain, with eight goals and four assists, alongside the milestone of becoming the all-time top scorer in the tournament’s history before Kylian Mbappe eclipsed him after scoring in the bronze final.

And after the latest highlight in his American adventure, co-owner Beckham has lauded Messi’s impact and tipped him to beat out the likes of Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe for the top individual prize in the sport.

“I still can’t believe we have him in Miami playing for our team,” Beckham said. “That’s why I go to training every day and watch him and turn up to watch him every time possible, we want to see Leo play football forever,”

“When you see him do things like tonight, and you see him have the World Cup he’s had, it’s not luck that he’s being considered for the Ballon d’Or again. It’s not luck. He was probably the best player in the tournament; he had an incredible year last year…

“At 39 years old, to affect the World Cup in every game the way he did, that’s special. There’s no one at 39 who is doing this at that level. He deserves to be considered for the Ballon d’Or. In my opinion, he should win it. You have great players in there, like Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, and other players, but when talking about Leo, I’m his biggest supporter.”

Messi opened the scoring in the 24th minute, converting a Luis Suárez cross to bring up a century of goals in 115 appearances across all competitions.

Casemiro made it 2-0 in the 81st minute, heading in a corner from Messi.

The Brazilian midfielder has scored four goals, all headers, in his last five matches after scoring in three consecutive games against CF Montreal, Atlanta United and Chicago before being held scoreless Saturday against Nashville.

The victory gave Inter Miami another trophy three years after Messi’s arrival. Miami won the Leagues Cup in 2023, the Supporters’ Shield in 2024 and MLS Cup in 2025.

Inter Miami returns to MLS play Sunday when it hosts San Diego FC at Nu Stadium. Miami enters the match second in the Eastern Conference standings.

AP contributed to this report