Did wrong man win Ballon d'Or?

[Souty]

Personally I think Xavi should have won as I have never seen him lose his rag he is probably the best passer of the ball in the world and he is Barcelona's and Spain's play-maker.

Iniesta too is also a brilliant player, scoring the winning goal in the world cup is what put me consider him winning it.

Messi I'm going to go out and say as much I love his talent I don't think he should have won it as he plays out this world for Barcelona but not the best for Argentina.

 

[Blakefish80]

Messi deserved to win.

Question to everyone who reads this post: Which of the 3 would you rather have in your team.

That is indeed a good and valid point. But although the natural answer for most would be Messi i really do love the way Xavi plays. He makes everything he does look so simple.

 

[Litiox]

sneijder was the best
anyone thought Inter could win the Champions league
or Netherlands make it to the World Cup final

messi is good but he got a sucky World cup

 

[bakicicko]

It is not award for world best player,it is award for 2010 best player and Sneijder deserved to win.I hate FIFA and UEFA mafia!

 

[tiraths]

No Messi?

Find it shocking that someone can leave out Messi. Equaled Ronaldo's record of 34 goals in La Liga last season (as a winger) and he also had 10 assists in the league. Lets not forget he was the top goal scorer in the champions league. People also forget that he was extremely good in the world cup and if he had a better team around him then I am sure Argentina would have gone further.

So far this season (last time I checked) Messi has 18 goals and 12 assists in just 15 appearances.

Messi is special and a deserved winner.

Messi had so many chances in the world cup to score and turned very greedy. Obviously a better managed would have played better formation but if he's so amazing, he should be able to win games on his own like Ronaldo does at Madrid.

Messi without Xavi etc < Ronaldo in my honest opinion.

 

[sween123]

How Sneijder wasn't even shortlisted is beyond me, what a joke he was class the entire year for Inter and Holland

 

[mantpro]

Messi had so many chances in the world cup to score and turned very greedy. Obviously a better managed would have played better formation but if he's so amazing, he should be able to win games on his own like Ronaldo does at Madrid.

Messi without Xavi etc < Ronaldo in my honest opinion.

Messi had win many games itself, or are you blind ? the game against as in the last CL, the game vs Zaragoza and many games when Xavi was injured.

Messi is far better than Ronaldo.

 

[flipstick420]

I think it should've went to Xavi.

 

[red157]

I voted Messi.

Sneijder should have been there instead of Iniesta, but he shouldn't have won. The Ballon d'Or is for the player who's performed the best over the previous year, not the player whose team/s have won the most trophies. So for that reason, the award is Messi's... and it could remain his for years to come.

Messi had so many chances in the world cup to score and turned very greedy. Obviously a better managed would have played better formation but if he's so amazing, he should be able to win games on his own like Ronaldo does at Madrid.

Messi without Xavi etc < Ronaldo in my honest opinion.

Interesting you've chosen to ignore Ronaldo's own not-so-sparkling international form.

 

[haap]

All three and Sneijder were even in merits, but I feel Xavi should have won it, as this was perhaps his peak, and Messi still has 10 years or so.

 

[Cloud~]

I think it went to the right person. Sure Sneijder's team won a lot of things this year but has Sneijder been a better player this year than Messi, IMO not really.

 

[theone25]

Sneijder deserved to get it.. mayb they didn't give it to him coz he has team mates like nigel de jong who kicks people in the chest and breaks legs as part of his daily routine. Or maybe because the Netherlands team philosophy was to stifle, kick, choke, and injure the opposition rather than try to play some good football.

Plus FIFA is becoming very pro Barcelona these days.

 

[sunilvk7]

Xavi should have won as he was the main man for the success Barca and Spain had. Take out Xavi from the team then we can see how different both sides look.

Barca and Spanish team plays in an excellent system which hides many players weaknesses. The system is Xavi. Just cannot disposses him. He is the heart of Barca and Spain and he was the worthy winner.

Other than him Sneijder should have. If with these contributions he cannot win, then he will never.

Gutted for Xavi and Sneijder.

Iniesta in top 3 is a joke.

Drogba and Cashley should have been in Team of the year.

 

[fcmessi]

Messi scored his 100th and 150th goal for Barcelona in 2010.

He had more than 60 goals in the last calendar year.

Through March - April 2010, he carried Barcelona's goalscoring burden entirely on his own, because Ibrahimovic could not be arsed to hit an open net from two yards out.

In the WC, Maradona left out Cambiasso and Zanetti, thus ensuring that Argentina had a worse defense and midfield than Iraq. Messi was dropped to a predominantly midfield role, and he was responsible for almost every single goal that Argentina managed to score.

Do you really want to see a guy like Sneijder among the world's greats? An award that has previously been won by players like Zidane, Puskas, Cruyff, Best and other legends of the game should not go to a player who has been roiling in mediocrity throughout his career.

Messi is the rightful recipient of this award.

 

[Andy]

Messi had so many chances in the world cup to score and turned very greedy. Obviously a better managed would have played better formation but if he's so amazing, he should be able to win games on his own like Ronaldo does at Madrid.

Messi without Xavi etc < Ronaldo in my honest opinion.

That is fair enough. But looking at the stats I posted surely Messi has been one of the best 3 players this year, surely.

 

[fcmessi]

Messi had so many chances in the world cup to score and turned very greedy. Obviously a better managed would have played better formation but if he's so amazing, he should be able to win games on his own like Ronaldo does at Madrid.

Messi without Xavi etc < Ronaldo in my honest opinion.

Most hilarious post I have ever seen.

Messi greedy? He was the only creative force in that sub par Argentine lineup. Higuain was the selfish and greedy one. He should have been dropped for Aguero 5 minutes into the WC.

Messi cannot win games on his own? *****. And Ronaldo can? When was the last time Ronaldo actually scored against Barcelona? Forget scoring, when was the last time he actually made you realise that he was even on the pitch in a Clasico? Messi has made Madrid his ***** since he first came onto the scene and scored a hattrick against them at the age of 19.

And of course, you have conveniently left out the stretch from March-April 2010 where Messi scored 11 goals in 5 games to ensure that Barcelona stayed ahead in the Liga race. And I guess it was Ronaldo who scored four goals against Arsenal?

 

[Raikan007]

Ronaldo
Messi
Sjneider
Julio Cesar
Diego Milito

 

[dasty]

People talk about how Sneijder had faded out in the latter parts of the year (thanks to Benitez) but yet chose to ignore the fact that Iniesta isn't even on the pitch for quite some time and had only started 20 odd games for Barcelona throughout the 2009-10 season.

Wesley Sneijder deserves to be at least top 3 instead of Iniesta. Sneijder could have won it and no one would complain, but since FIFA is involved I knew from the start that it is more of a popularity contest. I mean Diego Milito, the striker who scored all the vital goals for Inter Milan in the quest for a treble wasn't even nominated while Gyan Asamoah was.

Not discrediting Messi's win but Balon d'Or is now joke of an award.

 

[Raikan007]

Ronaldo has scored something like 52 goals in like 56 games for Real, how can he not even be nominated, I know some may argue that he has done nothing with Portugal, Messi did nothing with Argentina as well...

if Spain did not win the World Cup, Iniesta and Xavi would not have even been on the list, as mentioned above, this should have been the 3 nominees...

1) Ronaldo
2) Messi
3) Sjneider

 

[koflok]

Did anyone know that if it was up to the journalist, the votes would be
1. Sneijder
2. Iniesta
3. Xavi

and up to National Team coaches and captains the rank is
1. Messi
2. Iniesta
3. Xavi

Just a little info though.
Seeing the ranking from the journalists, no wonder there has been so many articles which says 'Messi is not the right winner, Sneijder deserved it' - while a lot of footballer praises Messi.

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If it was up to me, I would choose Xavi. He proved he is the best central midfielder, possibly of all time.
Barca is the best club last year - fact
Spain is the best national team last year - fact
Xavi is the backbone of Barca and Spain - fact
If that doesn't make him a winner, I don't know what is.
and come on he is 30ish, it's probably the last chance he can get it.

Messi would be my 2nd choice. Well he's Messi. The best footballer hands down.
Had an awesome season scoring 47 goals and a lot of assists - other than the 3 weeks in the world cup - which in his defense, wasn't his fault.
With Maradona as the coach, it was a disaster waiting to come from the start. (Playing Messi 'that' deep? Really? He's no Xavi)

3rd choice would be Sneijder instead of Iniesta.
True, Iniesta won the World cup and score the winning goal in the final.
True, he is a technically gifted footballer which is a bit of Messi and a bit of Xavi.
But he misses the 1st half of 2011 with injury and had a good half-year starting from the world cup and so on.

Sneijder, well he got a decent year.
He won treble, easily really, since Serie A and Italian cup back then, was a one horse race
Beating Barca was down to the Mou factor.
and yes he had a good World Cup.
But better than Messi ALL year? His 2nd half was rubbish.

So my pick would be

1. Xavi
2. Messi
3. Sneijder.

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As for Ronaldo. Meh.. Messi clearly had a better season.