COMMENT: The Portuguese superstar may have won
the last two Ballon d'Or trophies but he should be
nowhere the podium when the 2015 prize is handed
out on Monday Lionel Messi will make a triumphant
return to the stage at the Fifa Ballon d'Or ceremony
in Zurich on Monday. He will probably take home the
Puskas Award for best goal too.
There is no doubt that the Barcelona No. 10 deserves
to be crowned as the best player in the world
following the two-year reign of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Barcelona have been the best team since last
January; Messi has been the best player. Of that
there is little dispute.
Neymar and Ronaldo will be present at the gala and
will settle for their place in Messi's slipstream as the
second and third placed entrants. Neymar is well
deserving of his recognition after completing a treble
with Barcelona and going some way towards fulfilling
his potential as the world's best player in the making.
Cristiano Ronaldo though? Can anybody say with
conviction that he belongs on the stage with Messi
and Neymar this year? Surely only the most devoted
of CR7 supporters. In truth, 2015 was neither a good
year for Ronaldo - despite earning some awards for
his goalscoring milestones - nor Real Madrid as a
whole. They dropped their status as the best team in
the world and Ronaldo has dropped in esteem, again,
to his great rival Messi. He should not only slip to
second place; he should slip off the podium
altogether.
This is not intended as an attack on Ronaldo. It is
merely putting forward the case that his name only
appears on the ballot because of the reputation he
earned over the years. He did not have an
extraordinary 2015, he did not lead his team to any
titles, he was simply not one of the three best
performers over the course of the year.
Who was? Try these. Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and
Arturo Vidal all deserve to be on the podium before
Ronaldo. Let's start with Suarez. The Uruguayan
made a slow start to his Barcelona career due to a
period of inactivity caused by a suspension for a bite
on Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup. He hit his stride
at the turn of the year, however, and has barely
looked back since.
From scoring winning goals in Clasicos to deciding
Champions League finals, he has become more
important to Barcelona than anyone else other than
Messi.
Team-mate Rakitic is also worthy of acclaim. Xavi is
quite rightly lauded as one of the most important
midfield players in the history of Barcelona but the
way that the Swiss-born playmaker has taken to life
at Camp Nou, you would be forgiven for thinking that
Xavi is not missed by many.
Barcelona are a quicker, more direct team these days
and there is a frenetic energy about them in an
attacking sense that was, perhaps, absent when Xavi
was pulling the strings. Rakitic is the man who blends
together that solidity in midfield with awesome
attacking power. Barca would not be the same team
without him.
He does not dictate the play in the same way Xavi did
but he is no less influential. He covers enough ground
to make sure the Three Kings up front can conserve
their energy for attacking, gives the team natural
balance and puts fires out in a defensive sense. It is
only because he is not a forward that Rakitic fails to
get more credit.
Likewise, another midfielder who enjoyed his most
productive 12 months to date was Arturo Vidal. He
joined Bayern Munich from Juventus over the summer
and, as well as excelling for his two club sides in
2015, he also led his nation Chile to continental glory
at the summer's Copa America.
Vidal was named in the best squad of the tournament
and was, more often than not, la Roja 's most
important figure during their fixtures in Santiago.
He may have had to settle occasionally for a
supporting role at Juventus as niggling injuries
curtailed his impact but he was still a key component
in Masimilliano Allegri's double-winning team which
also reached the Champions League final.
Despite not being the Pep Guardiola prototype, he has
also found his way at Bayern where he has ranked
among their most impressive men of the season.
It is not all about goals or all-star legacy. In the case
of Suarez, Rakitic and Vidal, it is about hard work,
humility and action.
Those three could be said to be support players in
one sense or another but stars like Messi or Ronaldo
only have the platform they enjoy because of people
like them.
Ronaldo will never in a million years be self-reflective
enough to admit that he is undeserving of his place in
the final three at the Ballon d'Or ceremony but he
should be embarrassed to be up there next to Messi
and Neymar while Suarez, Rakitic and Vidal watch
from their seats.
Source: goal.com
