Ballon d'Or 2025

[soul24rage]

Messi deserved the 2021 Ballon D'or and Lewy doesn't.

End of story.

Can't believe this is even an argument.

 

[Rassvet]

2021 was a strange season.
Issue is that if you go by numbers and best player overall, you have to give it to Lewa
If you go by important tittles, you have to give it to Joringho who won Euro and CL as pillar of both teams in the DM.
At the end, they gave it to Messi for sentimental reasons, because he wasn't the best by numbers, not the best by important titles

 

[vegitot]

La Liga is fine, but UTD won the treble.
Can't be compared

Also, I will write it again: people stop counting Copa America as an important trophy.
Won by either Brazil or Argentina 95% of the times, and should not be a factor in Ballon D Or votes.
Especially those years, when you had Copa America every 2 years

Behave. Compare a legand to international flop

 

[Windhook]

Seeing even La Liga not rushing to name Lamine best player, but best U23 player, points in one direction - Dembouz. Can tonight's Spain - France Nations League change a thing? I think not.

The irony of Dembele winning BdO before Mbappe (if ever). One was considered undisciplined donkey and the other once in a generation talent.

 

[Maradona37]

Seeing even La Liga not rushing to name Lamine best player, but best U23 player, points in one direction - Dembouz. Can tonight's Spain - France Nations League change a thing? I think not.

The irony of Dembele winning BdO before Mbappe (if ever). One was considered undisciplined donkey and the other once in a generation talent.

According to a few people here there's a quote that Mbappe said Dembele is more talented than him.

I can definitely see that. Not to say Mbappe isn't talented, but Dembele seems to have tighter control, is genuinely ambidextrous, can dribble in tight spaces better than Mbappe, can shoot just as well as him, is as athletically gifted (pace, height, strength it seems). He can pass and playmake better than Mbappe for me.

It does sound daft because Mbappe has achieved more in his career really, but Dembele does probably have more ability. Just that Mbappe's skills suit very well the modern football landscape - i.e. playing left wing and cutting in a lot.

Both top players but think based on this season so far, Dembele has been better to watch. However, Dembele needs to keep it up for the next 4-5 years now and not be a one-season wonder.

 

[Haraldinho]

Who is la liga best player then ?

 

[RedxMAK]

Who is la liga best player then ?

They gave it to the Ninja Turtle

 

[Birdy]

Behave. Compare a legand to international flop

Exactly, 2002 was three years later, shortly after he was doing all the heroics with the Barca shirt that carried us in shit seasons.
Rivaldo hadn't even peaked in 1999

Thanks for confirming my point without realizing...

 

[Horatio]

They gave it to the Ninja Turtle

wait…really?

 

[vegitot]

Exactly, 2002 was three years later, shortly after he was doing all the heroics with the Barca shirt that carried us in shit seasons.
Rivaldo hadn't even peaked in 1999

Thanks for confirming my point without realizing...

Rivaldo best year was 1999. Not 2002 when he had some injuries.

Rivaldo was the best in the world in 1999. Won both Ballon Dor and Fifa POTY, dominated the game and scored spectacular goals. Beckham with his crosses never came close to half of Rivaldo.

Imagine compare this legend to celebrity

You never saw Rivaldo and just look back, see which team won the most and thought their players were the best

Julian Alvarez 2023 Ballon Dor for sure (treble + World Cup).

Or Gerd Muller over Cruyff in 1974.

So on

 

[jamrock]

Rivaldo best year was 1999. Not 2002 when he had some injuries.

Rivaldo was the best in the world in 1999. Won both Ballon Dor and Fifa POTY, dominated the game and scored spectacular goals. Beckham with his crosses never came close to half of Rivaldo.

Imagine compare this legend to celebrity

You never saw Rivaldo and just look back, see which team won the most and thought their players were the best

Julian Alvarez 2023 Ballon Dor for sure (treble + World Cup).

Or Gerd Muller over Cruyff in 1974.

So on

He definitely didn't see most of the players he listed, it's all based on Google search lol

 

[vegitot]

Compare an international flop to Rivaldo, hero of Brazil

 

[Birdy]

Rivaldo best year was 1999. Not 2002 when he had some injuries.

Rivaldo was the best in the world in 1999. Won both Ballon Dor and Fifa POTY, dominated the game and scored spectacular goals. Beckham with his crosses never came close to half of Rivaldo.

Imagine compare this legend to celebrity

You never saw Rivaldo and just look back, see which team won the most and thought their players were the best

Julian Alvarez 2023 Ballon Dor for sure (treble + World Cup).

Or Gerd Muller over Cruyff in 1974.

So on

I bet I am older than you.
I started watching football in 1994, and I have seen all of Rivaldo since he joined Barca.

You post a bicycle kick goal against UTD, as if it proves something.
You cite the Ballon D Or, as a proof, while in reality it's whole point of contest, and the one that needs to be proven. This is a common logical fallacy

Again you don't understand basic concepts:
- Rivaldo in 98-99 was a cog in the wheel of well oiled machine by LVG. Great cog, but still a cog.
- Rivaldo 00-02 under Serra Ferrer and Rexach was a different beast: an one-team man. The one carrying a disjointed and dysfunctional team with his heroics. Something like Messi under Valverde.
A simple look at his numbers proves that, even if you don't remember

He deserved much more a Ballon D Or based on individual performances in 2001 or 2002, after the WC, but Owen and Ronaldo got them because of titles. He could have gotten the 2002 at least

 

[Birdy]

Scolari had said in interviews that Rivaldo, and not Ronaldo, was the best and most valuable player for his Brazil 2002 side.

The player himself had said that 2002 was his best ever year, and that the 2002 WC his best version having worked so hard that not even prime Neymar could take his spot.

The whole development of his career, based on both eye-test and data, tells you Rivaldo peaked between 2000 and 2002, and not earlier. Even statements by the player himself say that.

But hey, keep believing he was better in 1999 because he won Copa America , or because some voted for him in the Ballon D Or, or some others did not vote for him in 2002 and voted for Ronaldo.
Top-notch criteria...

 

[Maradona37]

He was superb before that too, though. He was excellent for Deportivo, superb at France '98 (especially against Denmark, who were really good then) and brilliant in 1999. Even if the player himself said he was better after, that doesn't mean he wasn't operating on the very highest of levels even in the late 90s.

I respect your opinion that he didn't deserve the award that year. But I don't agree Beckham was better - Beckham was excellent, but wasn't the best player in his own team in my opinion, Keane was. Beckham just got all the glory because of his fame off the pitch and the 'redemption narrative' after being sent off against Argentina the previous year. You can also argue guys like Basler, Effenberg, Shevchenko deserved it.

If you think Beckham deserved it then okay (I definitely don't) but claiming Rivaldo 'robbed' him, as if Rivaldo was significantly inferior to him over the season, just isn't true from watching that season.

The overall point though is that Beckham - while a very good player - doesn't come close to Rivaldo in football ability. A pre-peak Rivaldo is better than Beckham's best ever level. I know the award is about performance, not overall ability, but still it's true.