Your post about me has left me speechless – Lionel Messi send emotional response to Rafael Nadal after the tennis star backed him for Laureus sport award

Lionel Messi has responded after Rafael Nadal backed him to win the Laureus Sports Award.

Nadal is up for the prestigious award for the seventh time, named alongside Kylian Mbappe (soccer), Lionel Messi (soccer), Max Verstappen (F1), Mondo Duplantis (athletics) and Stephen Curry (basketball). But the 2022 Australian Open and Roland Garros champion tipped his hat to Messi in an Instagram post on Tuesday, after the Argentine soccer great guided his team to glory at the World Cup in Qatar with a dramatic final victory over France.

“An honour to be nominated again to the Laureus Sportsman of the Year… but… this year… Let’s go @LeoMessi you deserve it,” wrote Nadal, who also won the award in 2011 and 2021.

Messi responded on Wednesday February 22, saying it was an honor.

“Having such a great athlete like you post this about me has left me speechless,” Messi posted in response. “Thank you very much @RafaelNadal, you also deserve everything for the way that you compete each time you enter the court.

“You are a champion, and we have a lot of competition here, eh? Really [all the nominees] deserve it this year!!!”

Nadal told reporters he couldn’t help but be moved at the sight of Messi’s World Cup victory.

“Without supporting Argentina, when Messi scored the third goal, tears came to my eyes, because of the emotion of seeing someone so great achieve what they were missing and someone who had suffered so much to achieve it,” Nadal told Spanish sports newspaper As last year.

Nadal is seeking his fifth Laureus trophy, having also won the Breakthrough award in 2006 and Comeback award in 2014.