Ballon D'or ... who will win it? who deserves it?

So who deserves it and who will win it?

  • Iniesta deserves it and he will win it

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Iniesta deserves it but Ronaldo will win it

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    171
  • Poll closed .
Would agree that Barcelona's system is built with the intention of moving everything in the direction of Messi, though I think it's still fair to say that no other player would be particularly close to his goal tally and general creativity in the same role. People always go on about how Maradona did this and that and how Messi must drag such and such a weaker team to success, but it says a lot about how good Messi is that he plays with players like Iniesta whilst having a whole system built almost entirely in his direction. I think it's fair to say that there isn't any other player in the world that is good enough for that approach to be justified in a team that good. Not RVP, not Falcao and not Ronaldo. None of them strike the balance in their play or reach the level of excellence in terms of their overall game and positional sense that Messi does.

I often wonder just what Barcelona would do without him for a prolonged period of time given how they line up now, especially given the questions over David Villa. It'd pretty much be the Spanish national team that won the Euros I suppose.
 
Because (and I'll say this for the umpteenth time)... everything goes to Messi. Everything is built to give it to Messi. Apart from Gerrard, do you know who has the most assists for Liverpool this season, despite scoring nearly 50% of their goals... You guessed it... Suarez.

I'll requote myself from my last post:

Because in the attacking third there is nobody in the world that comes close to doing what he can with the ball, the four most important attacking qualities of the game; Finishing,movement, dribbling and passing, he is the best at it in that final third. Ronaldo can rival him in finishing and movement, Ozil and Iniesta are as good as him in passing in that final third, Iniesta is close(ish)to him in dribbling, but none of them have all 4 of those attributes at that high a level. If you have a player that can do all that better than anyone then of course you'd give him the blooming ball the most, why is this an argument that is being used against him?
 
It drifts far away from the thread's topic, so just two points:

You are essentially proving my point by naming Spanish teams that struggle scoring... This is because most Spanish teams aren't that great, outside of the top 2.
You've drawn the wrong conclusion out of the fact that these two spanish giants are scoring way more than the rest of the league. The gap isn't huge because the rest isn't great, it's huge because both teams are so good.

Barca and Real are scoring way more goals than the rest of the teams in the champions league as well. Real and Barca scored 35 goals in 12 CL games last season, Chelsea scored 25, Bayern 26 in 13 games. In 10/11 Barca scored 30 goals in 13 CL games, United 19 in 13, Chelsea 17 in 10 and Real 25 in 12.

This season, Valencia and Malaga scored 12 goals in 6 CL group games while Arsenal scored 10, United 9, City 7 and Chelsea 16 (though 10 of those goals were against Nordjaelland, probably by far the worst team in the CL this season). So Malaga and Valencia aren't struggling scoring goals in general. Atletico scored 33 goals in 15 EL games last season and scored 4 against Chelsea in the european supercup. You can't call that struggling.

If you genuinely don't think it's easier to score as a striker at Real/Barcelona vs the Premier League and the stats won't persuade you then I urge you to actual watch La Liga highlights and look at the defending week in week out, it's often atrocious. Not to mention 90% of teams try to beat Barcelona by playing attacking passing Football.
What stats? That Madrid and Real are scoring more goals because they have way better players in Messi and Ronaldo? That's not convincing at all. If they wouldn't score significantly more than english teams in the champions league as well, you'd have a point. And well, the amount of atrocious defending in the premier league these days is ridiculous high. Almost all top games are extremely high scoring while the same teams can't play dominating attacking football in europe anymore. The decrease in quality defending in England over the last 5 years is shocking. The league went from the best (fewest goals/game average by far between 05-09) to the worst (last season) out of La Liga, Premier League and Bundesliga. Somehow you're completely ignoring what has changed over the last 5 years in european football.

So no, I don't think it's easier for Messi to score in La Liga compared to van Persie for United in the premier league. I think he's the way better player that's why he scores more goals and that's why I don't believe van Persie would easily score 40+ goals playing for Barca instead of Messi. That's a ridiculous statement in my opinion. Barca wouldn't be able to build the system around anyone else the same way and without focusing that way on one player, no one will score similar numbers. But like I said before, let's agree to disagree.

Because (and I'll say this for the umpteenth time)... everything goes to Messi. Everything is built to give it to Messi. Apart from Gerrard, do you know who has the most assists for Liverpool this season, despite scoring nearly 50% of their goals... You guessed it... Suarez.

I'll requote myself from my last post:

If your entire teams ethos is to play in one player and you have World Class players built around this ethos, you are bound to have incredibly impressive stats if you are a good player, let alone an incredible one.

I totally agree with you on that by the way. I just don't get how you can think anyone else would be able to do the same just because he scored a lot of goals for another team in another league.
 
It matters in tight games where you only get one or two chances to score and you have to be very economical with the ball, no?

To drive to my point, I don't think Real have ended up where they are, because Ronaldo takes more shots, which seems to be the implied theme.

I caught the "Same damn time" reference lol.
 
To drive to my point, I don't think Real have ended up where they are, because Ronaldo takes more shots, which seems to be the implied theme.

I caught the "Same damn time" reference lol.

I agree, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. In the big games though it does and it's no coincidence that since he started being more relaxed with his pot shots tendencies against Barca while playing a more team oriented game he's been scoring against them for fun and Madrid have generally performed better.

Haha, I was worried no one would catch on to that reference! :D
 
It drifts far away from the thread's topic, so just two points:

You've drawn the wrong conclusion out of the fact that these two spanish giants are scoring way more than the rest of the league. The gap isn't huge because the rest isn't great, it's huge because both teams are so good.

Barca and Real are scoring way more goals than the rest of the teams in the champions league as well. Real and Barca scored 35 goals in 12 CL games last season, Chelsea scored 25, Bayern 26 in 13 games. In 10/11 Barca scored 30 goals in 13 CL games, United 19 in 13, Chelsea 17 in 10 and Real 25 in 12.

This season, Valencia and Malaga scored 12 goals in 6 CL group games while Arsenal scored 10, United 9, City 7 and Chelsea 16 (though 10 of those goals were against Nordjaelland, probably by far the worst team in the CL this season). So Malaga and Valencia aren't struggling scoring goals in general. Atletico scored 33 goals in 15 EL games last season and scored 4 against Chelsea in the european supercup. You can't call that struggling.

It's incredibly difficult comparing Champions League group goals. We often rest players as we think we'll breeze though (we know how that went last year), likewise some groups will have a whipping boy that gets ripped to pieces. Real had a group that was quite difficult, but whipped the minnows of the group Ajax home and away, which is what Spanish clubs are used to doing.

What stats? That Madrid and Real are scoring more goals because they have way better players in Messi and Ronaldo? That's not convincing at all. If they wouldn't score significantly more than english teams in the champions league as well, you'd have a point. And well, the amount of atrocious defending in the premier league these days is ridiculous high. Almost all top games are extremely high scoring while the same teams can't play dominating attacking football in europe anymore. The decrease in quality defending in England over the last 5 years is shocking. The league went from the best (fewest goals/game average by far between 05-09) to the worst (last season) out of La Liga, Premier League and Bundesliga. Somehow you're completely ignoring what has changed over the last 5 years in european football.

So no, I don't think it's easier for Messi to score in La Liga compared to van Persie for United in the premier league. I think he's the way better player that's why he scores more goals and that's why I don't believe van Persie would easily score 40+ goals playing for Barca instead of Messi. That's a ridiculous statement in my opinion. Barca wouldn't be able to build the system around anyone else the same way and without focusing that way on one player, no one will score similar numbers. But like I said before, let's agree to disagree.

If what you say is true then Ronaldo averaged around a goal a game for United in his peek? This didn't happen. Ronaldo in his absolute best season for United, which I still believe arguably is his best season thus far, scored 31 goals in the league... vs an average of around 40 or just over a goal every game in La Liga. Likewise in United's team which was the best in the world with the best player in the world the goals weren't flowing like you would expect. Mainly because the Premier League is much more competitive. Whereas La Liga is dying a slow death because of a ridiculous disparity in income which allows the top 2 to pay 250m Euros a year in wages whilst competing against teams who can only afford 40-60m at best.

I totally agree with you on that by the way. I just don't get how you can think anyone else would be able to do the same just because he scored a lot of goals for another team in another league.

As I said before I don't think anyone in the world would be able to do what Messi does in its entirety, because he is the best player in the world. But I do believe if 4-5 World Class players were setup solely to feed everything through RVP, he'd score 45 goals in La Liga. He might not assist 3x times like Messi and his team wouldn't score 120 goals as Barcelona did. Hell his team might even concede a few more because Messi puts in a hell of a shift too, but that wasn't my point.

(but yes we should agree to disagree the general point)
 
So no, I don't think it's easier for Messi to score in La Liga compared to van Persie for United in the premier league. I think he's the way better player that's why he scores more goals and that's why I don't believe van Persie would easily score 40+ goals playing for Barca instead of Messi. That's a ridiculous statement in my opinion. Barca wouldn't be able to build the system around anyone else the same way and without focusing that way on one player, no one will score similar numbers. But like I said before, let's agree to disagree.

There is still this misconception that somehow scoring in England is more difficult than in Spain.I think there is absolutely no general rule, I think it's stupid to think the PL has better defences than in La Liga.Things have evolved in the last 2-3 years in England, defending has generally gotten worse and worse each season passing by.
 
If what you say is true then Ronaldo averaged around a goal a game for United in his peek? This didn't happen. Ronaldo in his absolute best season for United, which I still believe arguably is his best season thus far, scored 31 goals in the league... vs an average of around 40 or just over a goal every game in La Liga. Likewise in United's team which was the best in the world with the best player in the world the goals weren't flowing like you would expect. Mainly because the Premier League is much more competitive. Whereas La Liga is dying a slow death because of a ridiculous disparity in income which allows the top 2 to pay 250m Euros a year in wages whilst competing against teams who can only afford 40-60m at best.

You're still comparing the defense in the premier league back then to today, which is nonsense, really.

Premier League average goals per game:
2012/13 2.87 goals per game
2011/12 2.81 goals per game
2010/11 2.80 goals per game
2009/10 2.77 goals per game
2008/09 2.48 goals per game
2007/08 2.64 goals per game
2006/07 2.45 goals per game
2005/06 2.48 goals per game

When Ronaldo played in England it was significantly harder to score goals than it is today. Yet you're talking like it's still the same. By the way, Ronaldo finished the last 3 seasons with 26, 40 and 46 goals, so his average is less than 40 goals a season so far, but yes probably slightly above a goal a game.

About La Liga. Yes, the league is dying a slow death because of all the financial problems but until today it hasn't shown in a loss of quality overall in the league. Spain has so many quality young players that help teams play to a very high standard. Again you're drawing the wrong conclusion. Spanish mid table and relegations teams aren't weak compared to other leagues because of the huge gap to the top. Barca and Real are just incredible good.
 
Well I agree with Maureen to be fair, Golden Balls without team trophies... no thanks. Golden Balls should go to the player who enabled his team to win great things.

Best player in the World, well that's Messi so it all depends on why you think the Golden Ball should be won. Should Messi just win it every single year now until he's 30 despite how well his team do?
 
Well I agree with Maureen to be fair, Golden Balls without team trophies... no thanks. Golden Balls should go to the player who enabled his team to win great things.

Best player in the World, well that's Messi so it all depends on why you think the Golden Ball should be won. Should Messi just win it every single year now until he's 30 despite how well his team do?

to beat Messi is straight forward. Out perform him over the year. That's all you need to do.

Might be a hard thing to actually execute, but that's all you gotta do.
 
Kinda clutching at straws here, Mourinho.



Justified his opinion very well imo and you cant slate him for that because otherwise quite a few barca fans clutch at straws on here but one of a his points was very interesting and that point was that if Ronaldo sold himself better, on the pitch and to the fans and media would he have more than 1 ballon d'or by now?
 
I reckon he'd get a few more if he performed at a higher level than Messi, which he hasn't for the last four seasons; in the one season he did perform better he, despite apparently being detested by the world for every single thing he does, picked up the Ballon d'or ahead of the media's favourite player - Lionel Messi.
 
Moaninho. :lol:
 
Justified his opinion very well imo and you cant slate him for that because otherwise quite a few barca fans clutch at straws on here but one of a his points was very interesting and that point was that if Ronaldo sold himself better, on the pitch and to the fans and media would he have more than 1 ballon d'or by now?

No, simply because Messi was better than him in the last four years. Ronaldo won the trophy when his image was much worse than it is now, because he played better in that year.

That image nonsense is laughable actually. The guy breaks the all time record, scoring 91 goals in one year, and your guy scores 63 (not even counting the assists) and your telling me Messi won it because of his image?!

Very enjoyable clip.
 
The way players start the season is also extremely important.Look at Sneijder in 2010, after the world cup he was nailed to win the world cup but big old Rafa came and Sneijder became half the player he was from August until the voting started.
It's not a fair system but it plays a role, same thing this year, Ronaldo had every chance to win it if it was delivered in the summer.Messi started the season and kept on going like never before, reducing Ronaldo's chances match after match
 
I just feel so sorry for Ronaldo. He's just so unlucky to be in the same generation as Messi and will forever be in his shadows, as long as he stays in RM. No doubt, he became the complete striker in the La Liga, but i always felt his performance and style of football, when he was playing from the right with us, put him in a more positive limelight, due to his entertaining style of football, as well as the team built towards bringing the best out of him. Come back to Old Trafford, and he probably still have a chance of winning the Ballon D'or. :drool::drool:
 
Justified his opinion very well imo and you cant slate him for that because otherwise quite a few barca fans clutch at straws on here but one of a his points was very interesting and that point was that if Ronaldo sold himself better, on the pitch and to the fans and media would he have more than 1 ballon d'or by now?

So, if he had decided to be the nice guy on the pitch and Messi was the bad guy last year then, he would have won the Ballon D'Or? Messi scored an insane number of goals, a great number of assists, his overall teamwork i.e. passing to a player and not shooting within 30 yards on goal 10 times per match, and you are basing it on a beauty pageant and Mr Nice Guy. Zidane has been sent off more than 10 times in his career and didn't stop him winning the award on 3 occasions. Sometimes you need to think before you type.

I reckon he'd get a few more if he performed at a higher level than Messi, which he hasn't for the last four seasons; in the one season he did perform better he, despite apparently being detested by the world for every single thing he does, picked up the Ballon d'or ahead of the media's favourite player - Lionel Messi.

He has reached his level, he cannot get any higher, and this season is proving it. Messi, on the otherhand is increasing his gpg ratio every single match this season, he is simply getting better and better. It is what you do on the pitch that counts, and Messi has fit the bill on the last four occasions.

No, simply because Messi was better than him in the last four years. Ronaldo won the trophy when his image was much worse than it is now, because he played better in that year.

That image nonsense is laughable actually. The guy breaks the all time record, scoring 91 goals in one year, and your guy scores 63 (not even counting the assists) and your telling me Messi won it because of his image?!

Very enjoyable clip.

Indeed, the goalposts have shifted, now it is all about Messi's image. Whatever next, I cannot wait for the next excuse. Pitch didn't suit Ronaldo, the blades Messi were wearing are longer thus giving him better stability, he has been playing with a magnet in his left boot all the time.
 
The way players start the season is also extremely important.Look at Sneijder in 2010, after the world cup he was nailed to win the world cup but big old Rafa came and Sneijder became half the player he was from August until the voting started.
It's not a fair system but it plays a role, same thing this year, Ronaldo had every chance to win it if it was delivered in the summer.Messi started the season and kept on going like never before, reducing Ronaldo's chances match after match

Who is to say that Messi wouldn't have stepped up his game earlier? Imagine if Villa hadn't been injured for 6 months and you have to rely on Cesc being one of your fellow top scorer. Ronaldo had Benzema and Higuain who both scored around 25+ goals each, securing La Liga. Messi kept Barcelona 2nd place on his own.
 
Who is to say that Messi wouldn't have stepped up his game earlier? Imagine if Villa hadn't been injured for 6 months and you have to rely on Cesc being one of your fellow top scorer. Ronaldo had Benzema and Higuain who both scored around 25+ goals each, securing La Liga. Messi kept Barcelona 2nd place on his own.

I don't understand (no sarcasm intended :nervous:), do you agree or disagree with me ?
 
Mourinho argues very well his points.There is some truth in what he said (Easier to be Messi than Ronaldo)

Yes, we've had 4 Messi's so far in this decade alone.. It's actually sooo easy to be Messi..

I just wonder if we should consider Falcao a better player than Ronaldo, because he came from another club too, playing for a much lesser club than Real Madrid, and he's scoring more goals than Ronaldo (and wasting less chances as well).. Hmmm..

Are people really taking this BS seriously? :lol:

"Ronaldo contributes more to the defense than Messi":
Total successful tackles:
2011-2012: Messi: 23, Ronaldo: 20.
2012-2013: Messi: 14, Ronaldo: 9.
Total interceptions:
2011-2012: Messi: 23, Ronaldo: 20.
2012-2013: Messi: 5, Ronaldo: 5.

"Messi gets more fouls than Ronaldo":
Fouls given:
2011-2012: Messi: 80, Ronaldo: 95.
2012-2013: Messi: 45, Ronaldo 44.
(I'm not even getting into who the biggest diver is of the two)

The man is talking out of his ass.
 
You're still comparing the defense in the premier league back then to today, which is nonsense, really.

Premier League average goals per game:
2012/13 2.87 goals per game
2011/12 2.81 goals per game
2010/11 2.80 goals per game
2009/10 2.77 goals per game
2008/09 2.48 goals per game
2007/08 2.64 goals per game
2006/07 2.45 goals per game
2005/06 2.48 goals per game

When Ronaldo played in England it was significantly harder to score goals than it is today. Yet you're talking like it's still the same. By the way, Ronaldo finished the last 3 seasons with 26, 40 and 46 goals, so his average is less than 40 goals a season so far, but yes probably slightly above a goal a game.

About La Liga. Yes, the league is dying a slow death because of all the financial problems but until today it hasn't shown in a loss of quality overall in the league. Spain has so many quality young players that help teams play to a very high standard. Again you're drawing the wrong conclusion. Spanish mid table and relegations teams aren't weak compared to other leagues because of the huge gap to the top. Barca and Real are just incredible good.

Ronaldo 06-08 scored 66 goals in 101 appearances in the Premier League where 2.5 goals per game were conceded. Nowadays 15% more goals get scored in the Premier League... So at best you can assume Ronaldo's return would be 15% better, putting his best tally at around 35 goals vs 46 goals for Madrid (30% more), with his average over 3 seasons being increased to around 0.75 goals per game vs 1.1 (45% more) in Spain. Also bear in mind that 07/08 saw us score 80 league goals vs the 89 we scored last year (only a 10% increase).

I disagree regarding the other teams in La Liga. If their players were top quality they would simply be poached by Premier League and Championship teams who can afford to pay them much more. As an example 8-9 teams in La Liga 10/11 paid less than £20m per season in wages, which was less than the likes of Middlesbrough, Burnley, QPR and Hull City in the Championship, whilst the bottom 2-3 clubs paid less than £10m, similar to the likes of Scunthorpe and Barnsley.

As I said the correlation between wages and quality (or success) is huge and probably the biggest indicator of the quality/chance of success of a team.
 
Yes, we've had 4 Messi's so far in this decade alone.. It's actually sooo easy to be Messi..

I just wonder if we should consider Falcao a better player than Ronaldo, because he came from another club too, playing for a much lesser club than Real Madrid, and he's scoring more goals than Ronaldo (and wasting less chances as well).. Hmmm..

Are people really taking this BS seriously? :lol:

"Ronaldo contributes more to the defense than Messi":
Total successful tackles:
2011-2012: Messi: 23, Ronaldo: 20.
2012-2013: Messi: 14, Ronaldo: 9.
Total interceptions:
2011-2012: Messi: 23, Ronaldo: 20.
2012-2013: Messi: 5, Ronaldo: 5.

"Messi gets more fouls than Ronaldo":
Fouls given:
2011-2012: Messi: 80, Ronaldo: 95.
2012-2013: Messi: 45, Ronaldo 44.
(I'm not even getting into who the biggest diver is of the two)

The man is talking out of his ass.

The man makes some valid points all hatred and bias aside from me.We have to separate two notions, being better than someone and performing better.Falcao has been performing better than Cristiano this season but there is no doubt who is the better player.
Messi is at the same a better player and has been performing better than Ronaldo for a while now.
 
If you listen to Mourinho carefully, you'll see he's only trying to make excuses. There are so many contradictions in what he says..

For example, he says we shouldn't consider "other factors" when we decide who performed better (and he was referring to Messi's image as a nice person being the most important factor that led to him winning the Ballon d'Or). Then a minute later, he's trying to insert other factors into the equation, like, yes he's performing better BUT it's only because it's easier for him to perform better. Isn't that something that shouldn't have anything to do with winning the trophy? Shouldn't we only decide based on the performances, rather than the "other factors" of why and how?

Besides, isn't it also easier for Ronaldo to get the goals (and the fame he got) than Falcao too? Doesn't playing for the richest club in the world make it easier for you to score a lot of goals and shine like Ronaldo did in the last couple of years? Can you be more hypocritical? This argument is absolute nonsense. Ronaldo doesn't play for Getafe. He's playing with the best players in the world, who are also trying to help him to score more goals than Messi..

Ronaldo took 6.9 shots per game in the 2011-2012 season, while Messi took only 5.5 shots per game. Ronaldo took 7.7 shots per game in the 2012-2013 season so far, while Messi took only 5.3 shots per game! And Messi still outscored him in both seasons (so far)! It's not Ronaldo's teammates' fault that Ronaldo couldn't score as many goals as Messi. In fact Messi creates more shots (and goals) for himself than any other player in the league..

I actually find it strange that a manager pretty much blame all of his players (by comparing them unfavorably to Barcelona), and the job he's doing as a coach, and concede that Barcelona are better than Real, only to support one player to get a, more or less, meaningless trophy (for a manager). I can now see why the Madrid players are upset with him..

If Barcelona were so much better than Real why didn't they win La Liga last season?
 

there's no denying that Ronaldo played a major role in last season Real Madrid's success

not only he scored a lot of goals, but he also played very well in the two games against barcelona -the ones that decided the champion-

but i also think that last season Ronaldo had better company than Messi, because not only Benzema and Higuain helped with the goals they did, he had di maria, ozil and alonso in a very good form

on the other hand barcelona had messi, and flashes from iniesta, xavi, villa and fabregas who were in a lower form

if it wasn't for messi scoring a lot of goals and putting the team on his shoulders, La Liga would have been finished a lot earlier

and lets be honest, Ronaldo is a wonderfull player, one of the all time best, but he is very unlucky to be playing at the same era of messi

else, we will be only talking about cristiano ronaldo and his four or five ballon d'or
 
from an argie newspaper about the way messi was voted:
¿Quiénes son los archirrivales futbolísticos de la Argentina? También podría haber polémica, pero el podio se arma con Brasil, Inglaterra y Uruguay. ¿Cuántos votos sacó Leo de ellos? Cinco sobre seis. Thiago Silva, Hodgson, Steve Gerrard, el Maestro Tabárez y Diego Lugano lo eligieron como el mejor.

"Who are argentina archi enemies in football? well, you can disagree who are first, second and third, but no one would deny that in the podium are Brazil, Uruguay and England. How many votes did leo get from them? five out of six. Thiago Silva, Hodgson, Steve Gerrard, Tavarez and Diego Lugano, chose him as the best"