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Neither Lionel Messi Nor Cristiano Ronaldo Deserve the Ballon d’Or

By @SamHader21

Getty Images

Getty Images

The Ballon d’Or is a complicated award. It is the award for the best player in the world, but what constitutes being the best? Is it individual achievement, results, team-play, the brand the player wears or all of the above? That’s for the voters to decide, who include captains of international teams, coaches and journalists from all around the world. Surprisingly, there is a great chance that it may not go to the usual front-runners Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

Many believe, and want, a different player to win the award. Louis van Gaal, current Manchester United and former Dutch National Team manager, has gone on record saying that neither Messi nor Ronaldo should win the award and that it should go to one of the six Germans who were nominated. The Germans certainly make a great case, but the two biggest names amongst them, Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer, both contribute so much and are so talented that they could end up splitting the votes.

Members of the pan-European television network Eurosport also came to a consensus that neither Messi nor Ronaldo should win the Ballon d’Or. In Poland, Russia, Italy, France and Spain, their offices believe so. The only outlier is Germany, ironically, who is pessimistic that the voters will only vote for “spectacular players.”

It is without a doubt that Messi and Ronaldo have the best skill sets in the world amongst attacking players. They will be remembered decades from now for their brilliance on the field, but do they truly deserve the award?

Ronaldo is a goal-scoring machine, and he is having a record-breaking season in the Champions League with 17 goals. He led Real Madrid to winning “La Decima” last season and came in third in La Liga last year. But scoring goals isn’t everything; playing in a league where there are a few gods-among-men teams makes his scoring accomplishments less impressive, and the only reason they won the Champions League was due to questionable lineup calls by Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone (i.e. Diego Costa), a red card and a last-gasp goal not by Ronaldo but defender Sergio Ramos. He also did very poorly and crashed out of the World Cup.

Messi, on the other hand, did not win any titles with Barcelona last season. They lost to Atletico in both the standings and the Champions League, capping off a subpar year by Barcelona’s standards. He also fell short of lifting the World Cup for his native country of Argentina, however he did win the Golden Ball of the tournament. Many put Messi’s individual and club achievements behind those of Ronaldo, and many also believe his Golden Ball was a sham, including Diego Maradona, Messi’s only superior in Argentinian football. The goals he scored were arguably in the most lopsided group of the tournament, and he was shut down in the knockout phase.

Two other ample selections for the award include Müller and Neuer, who were fantastic in the World Cup. Müller, only 25, is already closing in on the all-time record for most goals at the World Cup, and he bagged five in this year’s tournament. He was a clear option for the Golden Ball, but Messi stole that from under his nose. Neuer is the dark horse (if an upset is allowed) of the race and a favorite among many. He is a brick wall for the Germans and Bayern Munich, as well as the unanimous top goalkeeper in the world. He won the World Cup, the Golden Glove and the Bundesliga. Bayern made it to the semifinals of the Champions League, but a rash tactical decision by new manager Pep Guardiola led to a thrashing by Ronaldo and Real Madrid. He is also credited for revolutionizing the position of goalkeeper into a “sweeper-keeper” type, which led to a lot of his successes.

So does Ronaldo or Messi deserve the Ballon d’Or? It’s hard to tell with all the different factors that come into play, but what’s on the mind of many voters and fans is becoming clear: The Ballon d’Or is an individual trophy that should reflect collective triumphs, and neither of them fit this.

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