i'm with you, if Spain win euro give it to Andres likewise Pirlo with Italy, Messi will have countless of opportunities to win it again, mix it up a little!
It'll obviously be one of Messi or Ronaldo though which is why i find the whole thing so stale.
Or better, give it to Donovan as no player North America won it yet
Seriously though, many people here should look at the award for its TRUE meaning (in my opinion that is)
Its the best player in the world award not the top player of the biggest achieving team. This reminds me of the Beauty contest requiring the winner be brilliant and answer questions perfectly... totally irrelevant!
Messi followed by CR7 have given us a blast of Football, put aside that Barca did not grab La Liga or UCL they played probably better then the 6 cup (pep debut) season, and as a single effort messi carried the team and cancelled out the David Villa loss with his efforts, to be honest even had Messi scored only 40 goals and 15 assist like any Super hero striker he would have still deserved to be in contention for his brilliance this season and simply wow effects. but he went on to break a century old scoring record as well as 10 other records if not more... CR7 is the closest thing to having such a superb year and superb stats to go along. After this i would personally go for Iniesta.
Best player of the year = Player who plays the best ! Sadly we got years such as Cannavaro winning it off a Zidane year that was freaking worthy but maybe his bald head incident changed some minds of players, Coaches etc... we are only human and its hard to completely remove bias and opinion i guess. Thats another added effect aiding Messi, Xavi and Iniesta... people can not question their off the pitch personality and humbleness.