Not denying it, but it would be better if you can give an intelligent reply, rather than an ad hominem.
Modric deserves Ballon d'Or, but Ronaldo will get it
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Not denying it, but it would be better if you can give an intelligent reply, rather than an ad hominem.
I don’t feel your post qualifies for an intelligent reply when you reduce Ronaldo’s achievements to
- nice «double» kick against Juve
- Nice free kick against Spain
Nice touch with the latin though even though it was not a personal attack... I was pointing out that, as a Barcelona fan, you are obviously biased and will naturally always argue in favour of Messi.
It's obvious that Modric will get it - and well deserved. The real question is if Ronaldo will be mature enough to show up at this awards ceremony or if he will throw another temper tantrum and have his people say and post stupid crap deriding and ridiculing his former teammate...
Feck Ronaldo and Modric and give it to Mbappé already! 
Salty Barca fan detected.
Ronaldo was hardly in GOAT mode for the latter stages of the CL. But he was better in both the CL and World Cup than Messi was this year.
Messi didn't have notable CL campaign and failed to turn up against Roma and only had one good half in the WC (1st half vs Nigeria).
Messi didn't have notable CL campaign and failed to turn up against Roma and only had one good half in the WC (1st half vs Nigeria).
Not at international level he wont.
Ronaldo has a good chance of passing Ali Daei's record whereas Messi has now semi retired for Argentina.
Ronaldo may still hold the all time Champions League record as well, given he's about 20 ahead.
Please don't turn this into another Messi v Ronaldo thread.
FWIW I would like to see Modric win it anyway.
Iniesta should have won it in 2010.
Iniesta should have won it in 2010.
Salah over Messi in the top 3 seems an odd choice. Scored fewer goals and won nothing. Messi won the double.
Messi not in top 3 is a damn joke.
He wasn't as insane as the last years but still the best player.
He wasn't as insane as the last years but still the best player.
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Only one of those showed up during the later rounds of the Champions League. Can‘t be the best player in the world if you don‘t shine brightly at international or intercontinental level.
Ballague just had another meltdown on twitter blaming English based media 
He won a CL final trophy, and a CL semifinal trophy as well, aren't more than half of Mou's/CFC's trophies like that?
What on earth are you talking about, cl semi final trophy?
I think you're underestimating the season Salah had. He scored 44 goals and 16 assists in 52 matches. Messi had 45 goals and 18 assists in 54 matches, not much difference in them at all. If you include the impact Salah had in the later stages of the UCL (against City and Roma) then you can certainly put Salah ahead of Messi when judging their season's performances.
I expected a former Mou supporter to know better, according to him, whenever you reach a CL semifinal (like him at CFC or RM), it can be counted as a trophy... that's most of his trophy cabinet at those clubs, which he proudly counts time and again.
Salah has one of those now, and an even better one, the CL final trophy.
Like you, I support a club Mourinho used to manage. It does not mean I think that getting to a semi final is a trophy, as a "former Mou supporter" yourself, do you?
There's quite a few things me and Jose disagree on in fact. If you want to mock what he thinks, take it up in one of the many Mourinho threads on here, don't quote me in a thread that has zero to do with him.
1. The relation/history between Mou and CFC isn't /wasn't /won't be exactly like Mou and RM.
2, 3 & 4. It was a joke mate, in good fun, but I had to spell it out and I think that made it look more serious than it ever was. But hey, at least you learned or remembered another Mou thing, it might come in handy.
Messi was MOTM against Nigeria and had two assists against WC winners France. Not his fault Argentina conceded 4 times
Ronaldo was good against Spain but got worse and worse as the WC went on, and was awful in their biggest WC game against Uruguay
Anyone who thinks Salah deserves to be on FIFA's award shortlist ahead of Messi is wrong, plain and simple. If you measure by silverware, Messi wins (2-0). If you measure by goals, Messi wins (45-44). If you measure by any other performance metric, it's not even remotely close.
We all here ignoring the fact that Messi scored 3 goals and an assist, participating in all the goals of the Chelsea leg because it just seems his standard performance, but Salah "shows up" for scoring 2 extra goals and assists in 3 games more?. Then you compare them in La Liga where Salah stands a chance, but totally disregard the cup, I know everyone does that, but it has to amount for something that he was, again, the best player in that competition and won it.
If Leo doesn't show up Barcelona get thrown up in R16, but to put in context how absurdly biased everyone is cherry picking stats and performances. no one mentions Mané scored SEVEN freaking goals in the knockout stage, barely gets any attention. If it was Salah, Ronaldo or Messi doing that they'd be put automatically in the top 3.
Single-handedly winning a leg vs Chelsea, scoring 3 goals in 4 knockout games is obviously not notable.
Obviously he should get the stick for our defense sucking vs Roma, especially when all they did was lob balls up to Dzeko. Blaming him of our shortcomings vs Roma is as ridiculous as blaming Ronaldo for Portugal not winning the WC or Modric failing to win a title with Tottenham.
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Performances in round of 16 deserve less praise than in QF or SF. His round of 16 performance was very good, but that is not enough for the world's best player. He scored 0 goals vs Roma at home, 0 goals vs Roma away and they are out. You blame your defense for the knockout, but what if your offense had been better in Rome? They couldn't score one single goal there against a defense that shipped 2 in 25 minutes from Liverpool at the exact same place. If they had scored just once in Rome, Roma would have needed to score 5 to prevent penalties.
Mane scored 7 in the knockout stage, Salah scored 5. That is a difference, but not a big one. Especially if you take into account that 3 of Mane's goals came in an unnecessary trashing against Porto. Salah's league form was much better than Mane's, it is normal that he gets more praise.
Barca's run to Copa Del Rey victory consisted of wins against Valencia, Sevilla and some La Liga mid table sides. That is solid, but nothing spectacular and you expect Barca to beat those sides. They didn't need to overcome a big side (like Liverpool stuffed Man City) to get there.
One of his "assists" against France as an unintentional deflected shot, the other one was superb pass granted but in the dying seconds when the game was pretty much over.
By in large though he only had won very good half against Nigeria, the other games he's nothing outstanding, wasn't terrible either, but he was a 6/10 for that WC, baring some glimpses, bit like Maradona in 1990.
Ronaldo definitely had the better WC of the two, Ronaldo was simply outstanding against Spain a 10/10 performance, he was good against Morocco (say 8/10), the rest of the WC he went missing, but Uruguay were a good side.
Ronaldo had a good WC (not a great one)
Messi had a kinda meh WC.
Ronaldo dove for a penalty and de gea had one of the sloppiest mistakes of the WC wig ronaldo’s goal
Ronaldo went missing in the two biggest games for Portugal’s World Cup
He missed a penalty to win them the group and was awful against Uruguay
Agree, Messi won a domestic double while Salah didn’t win anything. Also, Messi did a better WC than Salah.
Salah played a major role in taking his team to the UCL final (Liverpool were never expected to win any trophy, unlike Barcelona, so you hold it against him) and also scored a two goals to take his nation to their first World Cup in 28 years. Messi's World Cup performances are actually reason for him to not be selected because they weren't good at all, Salah himself scored two goals as well.
There is plenty of reason to accept Salah being the third best player from last season. Eventhough, I think this award is exclusively for Champions League isn't it?
10/10??? Mental...
It is posts like this that make people hate the use of statistics in football. The greatest trick Ronaldo fans pulled, was making player comparisons based on numbers only, a valid method of analysis in the sport. Only when you ignore the entire picture, including actual performances, does Salah seem to be on the same level as Messi last season.
Whatever mate, I'm not here saying Salah should be number 3, in just saying it's not as ridiculous as people are making it out to be. The person who I replied to used stats in defense of his argument, go argue with him as well then. If it were judging purely on stats I would be saying Modric shouldn't be number 1 as well, but I'm not.
If the Ballon d'Or had any legitimacy, which it doesn't, Varane should easily win it. He deserves it far more than either Modric or CR7.
Nah
Needs to be two awards. Best player (Messi every year), and most impactful/valuable (Modric/Varane this year).
Varane was the best defender in the world cup, and he's won every major trophies this season. What separates him from Modric is that he won the world cup, because as far as performance they were about equal in their respective field. The only reason it's a question mark is because defenders almost hardly ever get any love in these awards, which is why I think they have no legitimacy. Unless you're scoring a boatload of goals, you're not getting a sniff on the individual level and that's just such a narrow-sighted way of rewarding footballers.
Players score goals have more impact since goals win matches. And Varane was not the best defender in the World Cup and was not close to being the best defender in Europe during the season. He probably was not the best defender for Real or France. Him winning it would be a complete joke.
Varane?
The kid won the big ones and was outstanding.
I hate the bias for attackers. So unfair.
The kid won the big ones and was outstanding.
I hate the bias for attackers. So unfair.
That's a flawed way of thinking, and why the Ballon d'Or loses credibility. Ramos was the better defender of the two by a small margin (and he's an outsanding defender who is older and far more experienced), Varane was great in Europe and was the best defender in the world cup, that's not debatable in my eyes, and most people would agree as well. You can't really win more than he has this season and this is a player that has never lost a final. It's ironic you think a player winning the prize that has achieved what he just achieved not just in trophies won but performance in those competitions is a joke, because I think your opinion on the matter is one in and of itself. It's very new generation, and completely forgets the other side of the field that matters just as much.
Just have a chat with Belgium in how offense beats defense.
If he is not the best defender on his team how was he the best player in the World. And it is not American Football offense and defense are not entirely different things.