Guardiola and Mourinho on Ballon D'Or Candidates

[Metaphysical]

so like u saw Ronaldo for WC 02, Dinho for CL 05 Cannavaro win it for WC 06 , Kaka for CL 07, CR for CL 08 , Messi for CL 09... do the math .. Messi is an outside bet cause goals don't count for anything if your team won no major trophy

we didn't win the CL in 2005. ronaldinho won it for being totally fucking awesome.

anyway I dunno why all the speculation as to who will win, it's going to a spaniard. since they opened the award up to non-europeans it's always gone to a world cup winner in a world cup year, and that will continue to be the case. it should be xavi, but I think it will be iniesta.

Messi has no more than 10 % to win it this year IMO

it's only his absolute magnificence that will keep him even remotely in the hunt, otherwise he'd have 0% chance.

[BADGERBHOY]

Best player of the year is associated with your team achievement cause at the end it's a team sport .
and no you don't have to win EVERYTHING but you do have to win the major trophies in that year or go very far in it..and leagues doesn't hold much weight in this
so no it's not a ridiculous comment that's how it is from day .. the ridiculous thing is thinking goals are enough .. why didn't your king Larsson win than ? .. Messi won the golden shoes that's as far as goals will take u
so like u saw Ronaldo for WC 02, Dinho for CL 05 Cannavaro win it for WC 06 , Kaka for CL 07, CR for CL 08 , Messi for CL 09... do the math .. Messi is an outside bet cause goals don't count for anything if your team won no major trophy
there is other consistent performers last year as well they may not scored as much goal telly but they contributed to their team glory like Sneijder and Xavi..
Messi has no more than 10 % to win it this year IMO

I do agree that he is unlikely to win it for the reasons you said but I do think he deserves to win it again.

You've said you have to go far in tournaments, do you class the QF of WC and SF of CL as going far in both tournaments?

And as for Larsson not winning it, of course he didn't. Another prerequisite is you have to play in a top league doing it against top players.

In essence it is a very elitist award and I do think that Messi is top of that elite and has been for some time.

[Azzido Da Bass]

Award should be between Xavi and Sneijder and i'd give it to Xavi.

[Beast]

I do agree that he is unlikely to win it for the reasons you said but I do think he deserves to win it again.

You've said you have to go far in tournaments, do you class the QF of WC and SF of CL as going far in both tournaments?

And as for Larsson not winning it, of course he didn't. Another prerequisite is you have to play in a top league doing it against top players.

In essence it is a very elitist award and I do think that Messi is top of that elite and has been for some time.

No QF & SF are definitely not enough considering

Sneijder CL final + winner /WC final and runner up (being a treble winner on club level is an extra for votes )
Xavi CL SF + WC final and winner .
now compare that to Messi
WC QF + CL SF.

no comparison .. he is far from the two front runners

[AnfieldEd]

Xavi should win it definitely.

[Catalonian Devil]

No QF & SF are definitely not enough considering

Sneijder CL final + winner /WC final and runner up (being a treble winner on club level is an extra for votes )
Xavi CL SF + WC final and winner .
now compare that to Messi
WC QF + CL SF.

no comparison .. he is far from the two front runners

I agree that Messi might not be in pole position to win it, but you can't simply use the above argument to put him in the 'no comparison' category. You can't simply disregard his brilliant individual performance, 47 goals in a season is still an absolutely outstanding achievement, not to mention he won the CL top scorer and La Liga top scorer, top individual accolades that should not be simply ignored. Not to mention he had some amazing individual performances on high profile games such as the 4 goals vs Arsenal in a CL QF, and he also has another 3 La Liga Hat-tricks to show-off. Add to that a La Liga title and he's definitely not that distant from 1st place. Again I'm not saying he should be the outright winner, but he's definitely done enough last season to be be considered as serious competition for the award.

[Elite-BkD]

Messi had just come off an incredible season that saw him win the Ballon D'or by a record margin along with WPOTY. He had all the pressure in the world on him and every team he played had spent a lot of time preparing to try to stop him, and while playing in a front 3 that typically included one player who was utterly useless he played a much better season individually, scores 47 goals, and his club actually had excellent season, which has been criminally underrated. One loss in the league, 24 goals conceded, 99 motherfucking points. No club in Spanish history has had a more dominant season in the league. This was the year that any meaningful debates about who's the best were ended very emphatically by Messi, there's no question he should win. Still, I have an unhappy feeling he won't ;/