footyfan
Calma, calma
Yeah totally. He was defending, goal-keeping, passing and scoring all at the same time.
Without Valdes and Busquets, Barca would've lost both ties.
footyfan
Calma, calma
Messi didn't win the Ballon D'or because he won the Copa del Rey, nobody gave a shit that he won the Copa del Rey Do you actually care who wins the FA Cup?
He would've won the Ballon even if they lost the Copa.
Of course I watch Real Madrid. Don't invent things.
And I was replying to the notion that Ronaldo has played better... When did I say Messi has played better this year vs big teams? Don't always twist what I say please.
F
Flavia
Guest
I know that. He won it because he was the best player by a huge margin. But winning a title doesn't hurt.
Stric
New member
You get the award either by being the best player by a huge margin, as Messi was in 2012, wihout winning trophies, or by the combination of being the best, playing the best and helping your team win trophies. Either way, Messi deserved to win it. This year, Cristiano has neither been better by a huge margin (if any margin at all, I'd venture to say that Messi was still by far the better player in the fewer games he played, due to his injuries), nor has he helped his team win anything. If you're going to justify your award on good individual performances alone, regardless of the titles you haven't won, then they'd better be some freaking good performances, like Messi's were in 2012. Even with his injuries and everything, Messi was still the best player in the world in 2013. Plus, he won La Liga. Those two put together put him ahead of Cristiano, who's won nothing, and his performance alone wasn't comparable to Messi's to begin with.
MVBarcaFan
New member
Besides the PSG and Milan game, I cannot remember any other phenomenal performances by Messi this past year. Ever since his injury after PSG, he has been pretty good, but there wasn't a game where he wowed me like he has in the past. Ronaldo has been very consistent throughout the entire year although he hasn't won shit. If it came down to the two of them, CR7 deserves it. Personally, I'd prefer Ibra to win the whole thing, but that's wishful thinking on my part.
Stric
New member
True, Messi's only had a few phenomenal performances, but on the other hand, CR hasn't had any. He's been good and consistent, but never phenomenal. Messi's also been good and consistent in the other games he played. At least that's how I see it. So again it's tipped one way...
Yeah, I'd love for Ibra to get it, too, but that's obviously not gonna happen.
Yeah, I'd love for Ibra to get it, too, but that's obviously not gonna happen.
MVBarcaFan
New member
So what do you take? Consistent performances of Ronaldo or Messi's ups and downs? Messi hasn't had any particular terrible performances that I can recall from memory, but I do remember him disappearing and not being involved in some games. Blame it on the injury or what have you, but as it pains me to say it, we can't dabble in the hypothetical and wonder what would happen if Messi was not injured. We have to deal with the fact and the fact is Ronaldo has been consistent throughout the year and deserves it.
Stric
New member
Well if they're giving the award for consistency, they might as well give it to Pedro or someone, for being consistently mediocre. 
All joking aside, though, I'm just saying, regardless of Cristiano's consistently good performances, I'd rate Messi's great, but fewer performances higher.
All joking aside, though, I'm just saying, regardless of Cristiano's consistently good performances, I'd rate Messi's great, but fewer performances higher.
B
beautifulgame
Guest
that video of his son asking him if he could sleep with him during the interview.. lol adorable
Mr Hulot
New member
We all have to acknowledge that Messi's injuries kept him far from his best form for a long period during the 2013 season. Cronaldo doesn't even have half of Messi's talent( at least in my opinion), but he shows admirable passion and hunger during most of the games I've seen him play. He really has that unique quality of making a ton of runs, trying to shoot the ball or position himself to the best possible position to help his team. For example, if you saw his last game against Sweden, it was like his life depended to whether or not he will score and even though he was negative for most of the game, I found the way he played inspiring in some weird way.
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MVBarcaFan
New member
Well if they're giving the award for consistency, they might as well give it to Pedro or someone, for being consistently mediocre.
I find the problem to be with FIFA's lack of established criteria. It seems that the voters make up their own criteria and vote based on those.
Mr Hulot
New member
Football is such a complex sport that you cannot put criteria to such awards. I mean, what criteria would you propose?
MVBarcaFan
New member
I guess the debate would have to begin whether to award winners the Ballon D'Or for their individual performances, regardless of team accomplishments. Example: Messi, when Barca only won the CDR that year. Or whether to award the Ballon D'Or for great individual performances, coupled with the team's accomplishments for the year. So in essence, the issue comes down to whether team accomplishments should be considered when the voting begins.
This goes deeper into philosophical territory. We would have to decide whether football is truly a team sport and that teams win games or whether it comes down to certain individuals on a team to carry the team forward to victory. The answer is probably somewhere in between, but ask yourself, "would this team have won without the individual's performance on this team?" If the answer is no, then the individual performance reigns supreme over the team's collective effort. If that is so, then the Ballon D'Or should be about the individual's performance regardless of whether the team managed to win any trophies that year.
It's a difficult answer and a more difficult question, but we shouldn't give up establishing criteria just because they are difficult.
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