Modric deserves Ballon d'Or, but Ronaldo will get it

Is Messi the GOAT?
Both Ronaldo and Messi have dominated the Ballon D'OR for the past 10 years. It is almost unreal to see a single professional (let alone 2) performing consistently at an extremely high level for this long. When you hear a number of fellow players claiming Messi to be way better, its almost tempting to believe them. However, I don't agree when people claim that Messi is more naturally gifted or Ronaldo is a trained product etc. These are very subjective opinions. Ronaldo was just as gifted when he first broke into the scene as Messi. The truth is somewhere down the line Ronaldo decided to turn into a pure goal scorer. As a result, in my opinion, Messi is the greatest player to play the modern game and Ronaldo the greatest goal scorer ever.

The Ballon D'Or Bias
Because the two of them have been that good for that long there is a psychological bias when it comes to comparisons with other players. Say a particular season, if Messi or Ronaldo are not at their best, even if there were other players who did better than both of them for that season, they will get overlooked in favor of Messi/Ronaldo by virtue of their superior past performances. The only way somebody else is going to beat them to the Ballon D'Or is by crushing the competition by a performance at least 10 times superior than the 2 of them, such that the judges can see past their past god-like consistent performances. Any marginally better performance by other players is definitely going to be overlooked in favor of M/R

Players who missed out

2010 - Wesley Sneijder
Sneijder was monumental in the 2010 Treble winning Inter team. On top of it, his exploits in the world cup was crucial in carrying Holland to the finals only to lose to a consummate Spanish football team.
Messi was crowned the Ballon D'Or (unduly in my opinion)

2013 - Franck Ribery
Easily the best player of the season. Helping Jupp Heynckes All Conquering Bayern Munich team win everything there was to win that season.
Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned Ballon D'or (Ribery lost by a 1% margin)

2018 - Luka Modric
For his dominant midfield performance winning the CL for the 3rd successive season and guiding a talented yet underrated Croatian side all the way to the finals.

Hopefully he wins it
 
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But Messi will end his career with more goals than Ronaldo, so how can Ronaldo be a better goal scorer?
 
People saying Ronaldo was better than Modric last season thus deserves to win it. Ronaldo went missing for a good few months at the start of last season. Besides Messi was better than Ronaldo and Salah last season and didnt even make the cut.
 
Pr ronaldo machine is doing everything that ronaldo wins ballon d'or. All these quotes today about modric from juve and ronaldo's agent are pathetic.
And ronaldo not showing yesterday is a shameful move from that egomaniac. Modric was his teammate 5 years and he does not come.
 
It's mind boggling to me that people think Ronaldo should be anywhere near the Balon d'Or this time.

In the first part of the 2017-18 season, Ronaldo not only "seemed mortal," he was pretty bad actually. I still fondly remember his form in the first half of La Liga, as he helped us build an advantage over Madrid by not getting the goals when Madrid needed them to keep up. Couple this with his non-appearance in the Copa del Rey and Ronaldo's domestic season essentially comes down to a second place finish for the Pichichi, one goal above Luis Suarez. Ronaldo had a grand total of four league goals until late January and basically had a great February and March, but that's about it, that's his domestic season. In the Champions League, he had a great tie against PSG and scored that wonderful brace in the first leg against Juventus, faded away after that with no input in the semi finals and final. How that can be considered a good season is beyond me. In the final stretch of the season Ronaldo was rested a number of times in the league in order to be ready for the Champions Lague, in which he did very little in the three most important games of the season.

As opposed to this, Messi's season was far more consistent, getting goals and assists quite evenly spread out and being Barcelona's undisputed leader and most important player in every match he played. Messi's efforts ended with two domestic trophies for Barcelona, and he actually played the entire season more or less on the same level, not discriminating between games or competitions. Couple this with Messi's great tie against Chelsea and you actually have a very good season, despite the elimination in the Champions League. For me there is no doubt Messi had a much better season than Ronaldo and everything Barcelona achieved is mostly his work.

But apparently, he isn't even seriously considered for these awards anymore, despite having one of his best seasons yet. But I do like the outcome of this UEFA award Modrić got, he deserves recognition as he's one of the best and most valuable players you can have on your team, as evidenced by Madrid's Champions League trophy haul. It gave me a good laugh to see how Ronaldo's entourage reacted to this, though Modrić deserved better.
 
Coach V said:
2013 - Franck Ribery
Easily the best player of the season. Helping Jupp Heynckes All Conquering Bayern Munich team win everything there was to win that season.
Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned Ballon D'or (Ribery lost by a 1% margin)
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There was nothing outstanding about him in the CL. You could have drawn a random Bayern player's name out of a hat and he would have been just as deserving.
 
ShadesOfTomato said:
But Messi will end his career with more goals than Ronaldo, so how can Ronaldo be a better goal scorer?
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I have to agree, Messi will most likely go on to be the greatest goal scorer as well. Ronaldo is the better goal scorer right now though.


Schneckerl said:
There was nothing outstanding about him in the CL. You could have drawn a random Bayern player's name out of a hat and he would have been just as deserving.
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I agree with most Bayern player's would have been just as deserving (Schweinsteger, Robben, etc.) but Ribery was definitely outstanding that season, overall more impactful than Ronaldo that season, to say there was nothing outstanding about him in CL is naive.

zkap said:
It's mind boggling to me that people think Ronaldo should be anywhere near the Balon d'Or this time.

In the first part of the 2017-18 season, Ronaldo not only "seemed mortal," he was pretty bad actually. I still fondly remember his form in the first half of La Liga, as he helped us build an advantage over Madrid by not getting the goals when Madrid needed them to keep up. Couple this with his non-appearance in the Copa del Rey and Ronaldo's domestic season essentially comes down to a second place finish for the Pichichi, one goal above Luis Suarez. Ronaldo had a grand total of four league goals until late January and basically had a great February and March, but that's about it, that's his domestic season. In the Champions League, he had a great tie against PSG and scored that wonderful brace in the first leg against Juventus, faded away after that with no input in the semi finals and final. How that can be considered a good season is beyond me. In the final stretch of the season Ronaldo was rested a number of times in the league in order to be ready for the Champions Lague, in which he did very little in the three most important games of the season.

As opposed to this, Messi's season was far more consistent, getting goals and assists quite evenly spread out and being Barcelona's undisputed leader and most important player in every match he played. Messi's efforts ended with two domestic trophies for Barcelona, and he actually played the entire season more or less on the same level, not discriminating between games or competitions. Couple this with Messi's great tie against Chelsea and you actually have a very good season, despite the elimination in the Champions League. For me there is no doubt Messi had a much better season than Ronaldo and everything Barcelona achieved is mostly his work.

But apparently, he isn't even seriously considered for these awards anymore, despite having one of his best seasons yet. But I do like the outcome of this UEFA award Modrić got, he deserves recognition as he's one of the best and most valuable players you can have on your team, as evidenced by Madrid's Champions League trophy haul. It gave me a good laugh to see how Ronaldo's entourage reacted to this, though Modrić deserved better.
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Very good post. So true.
 
Sorry. I don't think Modric was the best player in last WC. He was good, but that's it. There was Pogba, Hazard, and to certain extend Rakitic who were more influential in most games. Croatia were spanked senselessly by France in the Final, and Modric bottled it in that penalty kick (was it QF?), almost cost Croatia.
 
ShadesOfTomato said:
But Messi will end his career with more goals than Ronaldo, so how can Ronaldo be a better goal scorer?
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How can you say that? Ronaldo has more career goals than Messi and I don't see him retiring any time soon
 
Isotope said:
Sorry. I don't think Modric was the best player in last WC. He was good, but that's it. There was Pogba, Hazard, and to certain extend Rakitic who were more influential in most games. Croatia were spanked senselessly by France in the Final, and Modric bottled it in that penalty kick (was it QF?), almost cost Croatia.
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By the ref you mean?
 
Ronaldo fanbois are so annoying.Like a group of teens defending their favorite pop singer.
What if he doesn't win the next Ballon d'Or ? He has 5 of them. Ronaldo himself can be childish :lol:
 
The sad part of this sulking thing is that his former teammate won it. Teammate who helped him to win most of his awards. Unbelievable behavior
 
Isotope said:
Sorry. I don't think Modric was the best player in last WC. He was good, but that's it. There was Pogba, Hazard, and to certain extend Rakitic who were more influential in most games. Croatia were spanked senselessly by France in the Final, and Modric bottled it in that penalty kick (was it QF?), almost cost Croatia.
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Pogba, seriously ? He's not even in the 3 best french players of the tournament.
 
kouroux said:
Ronaldo fanbois are so annoying.Like a group of teens defending their favorite pop singer.
What if he doesn't win the next Ballon d'Or ? He has 5 of them. Ronaldo himself can be childish :lol:
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he has 5 but another one puts him ahead of Messi. That's why winning this year is so important for him and his most rabid fans
 
kouroux said:
To him I can understand but his fans ?? They can feck off
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I hate the Ronaldo fanboys. Disgusting the most of times.

But you then realise that the Messi fanboys are equally as pathetic.

The day these two were knocked out of the world cup was a wonderful one. Just meant that we could enjoy the tournament without all the childishness that follows this rivalry.

I know a real life Ronaldo fanboy. He's a great person except for when he starts the Ronaldo thing.
 
K2K said:
I hate the Ronaldo fanboys. Disgusting the most of times.

But you then realise that the Messi fanboys are equally as pathetic.

The day these two were knocked out of the world cup was a wonderful one. Just meant that we could enjoy the tournament without all the childishness that follows this rivalry.

I know a real life Ronaldo fanboy. He's a great person except for when he starts the Ronaldo thing.
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The 2 groups are shameful to my eyes. Just as Bad as each other
 
Colombian Mancunian said:
Why is that? Because he plays for United, then he must be shit ‍♂️

Pogba together with Kante was the engine for France. Best player with Griezmann.
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Never said he had been shit :confused:
And it's not my personal opinion, every time I talked about this with french people (internet or IRL), always heard the same names, Varane, Kanté, Mbappé, Griezmann.
But of course he has been good too.
 
If he wins it, it would mean the Ballon D'or has truly gone back to it's old methodology.

The awards Messi and Ronaldo were winning were FIFA Ballon D'or's which were just glorified FIFA World player of the years. If I remmeebr coreectlty, Sneijder won the journalist vote in 2010, whcih mean under the 'Real' Ballon D'or he would have one already. Ribery would have won it in 13 as he had the journalists vote.

I've never taken the award that seriously if I'm honest but it would be refereshing to see Modric win it.
 
Still Messi..i am sorry. Even if it is boring
 
totaalvoetbal said:
If he wins it, it would mean the Ballon D'or has truly gone back to it's old methodology.

The awards Messi and Ronaldo were winning were FIFA Ballon D'or's which were just glorified FIFA World player of the years. If I remmeebr coreectlty, Sneijder won the journalist vote in 2010, whcih mean under the 'Real' Ballon D'or he would have one already. Ribery would have won it in 13 as he had the journalists vote.

I've never taken the award that seriously if I'm honest but it would be refereshing to see Modric win it.
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Depends on what you think the award should recognize. If you think it should go to the best player in the World you would be hard pressed to give it to anyone other than Messi or Cristiano the last maybe decade.
 
Would be interesting to see how Ronaldo would respond to Modric winning the big thing.

The situation reminds me a bit of 2013, when Grant Holt was denied his fourth consecutive Norwich Player of the Year award. It (wrongly IMO) went to Bassong, Holt never recovered from it.
 
Pastore27 said:
Never said he had been shit :confused:
And it's not my personal opinion, every time I talked about this with french people (internet or IRL), always heard the same names, Varane, Kanté, Mbappé, Griezmann.
But of course he has been good too.
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He was better than Griezman and Kante easily. Pogba created or scored almost all their goals in the group stages if I remember correctly. Kante whilst good (alongside Matuidi) was poor in the final and had to be substituted. Varane was very good, and so were Pogba and Mbappe. Take any one of those 3 out and suddenly there's a hole in the French team in one of defence / midfield / attack.
 
Colombian Mancunian said:
Why is that? Because he plays for United, then he must be shit ‍♂️

Pogba together with Kante was the engine for France. Best player with Griezmann.
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Griezmann, Mbappe and Varane were France's best players in WC (probably in reverse order). Pogba 4th or 5th IMO, depending if you put him ahead of Kante or not (I would).
 
Weird, I thought Pogba was Frances best player by a fair margin tbh. Mbappe and Varane i can understand, mainly because they were doing very different jobs and doing them well. Griezmann and Kante not so much.
 
Pastore27 said:
Never said he had been shit :confused:
And it's not my personal opinion, every time I talked about this with french people (internet or IRL), always heard the same names, Varane, Kanté, Mbappé, Griezmann.
But of course he has been good too.
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Most French people recognize he was one of the most important players, both in terms of performances and leadership, both on and off the pitch. Pogba had an excellent WC (typically a better one than Zidane did for example in 98 despite scoring in the final), and a lot of fans have warmed to him following this tournament.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
Most French people recognize he was one of the most important players, both in terms of performances and leadership, both on and off the pitch. Pogba had an excellent WC (typically a better one than Zidane did for example in 98 despite scoring in the final), and a lot of fans have warmed to him following this tournament.
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That speech he gave in the dressing room before the final (I think?) was amazing.
 
Ballon d'Or is just about marketing not who is actually the "best" player. Strikers are almost always used to promote football, they get the glory and are easy to use to sell football as a product and other things related to it. There are 11 players on the pitch, even having individual awards without any tangible criteria doesn't make a lot of sense other than from a commercial point of view.
 
Mb194dc said:
Ballon d'Or is just about marketing not who is actually the "best" player. Strikers are almost always used to promote football, they get the glory and are easy to use to sell football as a product and other things related to it. There are 11 players on the pitch, even having individual awards without any tangible criteria doesn't make a lot of sense other than from a commercial point of view.
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They should give Ballon d'Ors per position.
 
kouroux said:
They should give Ballon d'Ors per position.
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No. You have UEFA GK of the year, defender of the year, midfielder of the year and forward of the year. I like those.

You also have the FIFA FIFPro World XI, where I like the concept, but the voting is bad because it's the players voting and not the journalists. The good thing is that you have a strict 433, so no shady nominations like 442 with Ronaldo and Neymar on the flanks and Messi in midfield, just to cram in more attackers.
 
Don Alfredo said:
No. You have UEFA GK of the year, defender of the year, midfielder of the year and forward of the year. I like those.

You also have the FIFA FIFPro World XI, where I like the concept, but the voting is bad because it's the players voting and not the journalists. The good thing is that you have a strict 433, so no shady nominations like 442 with Ronaldo and Neymar on the flanks and Messi in midfield, just to cram in more attackers.
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The players arent voting for the Ballon d'Or anymore. Only journalists, they went back to the old system
 
When Messi is key but doesn't win tophies, he's snubbed
If he wins trophies he's snubbed

Truth is no one is as talented as him, the award is called "Best player", yet the Balon D'or has become about "Marketing" & "Lobbying" for years now

Trophies won in 2018:
Messi 2/4
Ronaldo 1/4
Modric 1/4
Salah 0/4

They will probably award it to Ronaldo now after he acted as a child a week ago.

Ronaldo's achievements in 2018:

Nice Double Kick against Juve
Nice Free Kick against Spain
Winning the CL after vanishing in the last 4 matches!!
 
Avatar said:
When Messi is key but doesn't win tophies, he's snubbed
If he wins trophies he's snubbed

Truth is no one is as talented as him, the award is called "Best player", yet the Balon D'or has become about "Marketing" & "Lobbying" for years now

Trophies won in 2018:
Messi 2/4
Ronaldo 1/4
Modric 1/4
Salah 0/4

They will probably award it to Ronaldo now after he acted as a child a week ago.

Ronaldo's achievements in 2018:

Nice Double Kick against Juve
Nice Free Kick against Spain
Winning the CL after vanishing in the last 4 matches!!
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Supports: Barcelona.

Check.
 
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