Cristiano Ronaldo - v1

[DonAndres]

I also agree that he should win it this year. He might not have won trophies but it's not like he didn't do enough for those trophies himself, scored in the CDR final and was 2nd top scorer in that entire tournament, CL golden boot as well despite Madrid crashing out to Dortmund in the semi's, not to mention being a monster in la liga as well. He's been massive against the biggest of teams (Juventus, Barcelona, Dortmund, United, City, etc.) in the recent year. 2nd half of last season was huge for him in terms of numbers, even more with the first half of this season, and he's delivered plenty on the biggest stage.

Messi is the better player, but he's been battling form and fitness for the past year and therefore his performances and output has been greatly lessened. In that time, Ronaldo has capitalized on his own game and showed the world how he is at his best. Ribery isn't on the level of either of the other two, despite being a great player.

 

[DonAK]

I agree with both of you. After thinking about it for some time and looking back at how those three players did, I also reached the same conclusion that Cristiano deserves it this year.

 

[Luftstalag14]

I agree with both of you. After thinking about it for some time and looking back at how those three players did, I also reached the same conclusion that Cristiano deserves it this year.

Make no mistake, I am praying so hard that Messi will win it. I so much want him to win his 5th, doing so I felt would solidify Messi's status as inarguably the best player. It will make me so happy.

However, I have gradually come to terms with the likely outcome of Ribery or recently, CR7 winning the Ballon D'or this year. Messi simply did not have a spectacular year mostly because of his injuries. CR7 does deserve to win it ( but not Ribery though). While losing the 5th consecutive Ballon D'Or will be a huge blow, I think it might just provide Messi the extra motivation and fire to stay healthy and do it again, and again. In the end it might turn out positive for both Messi himself and our team.

Having said that, I am still hoping for a miracle. The deities of the world...

 

[TornAndFrayed]

I do not think Cristiano should win it, but only because I was still more impressed by Messi's plays this year. In any case its a tough call.
Messi is the best match this year and will win. Ribery just isn't rated on his level

 

[WallBreaker]

Well if ronny ends the year like this then i think he can very well win it, i will dance naked infront of the whole city if he wins it and then does COMMANDO gesture on stage.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Well if ronny ends the year like this then i think he can very well win it, i will dance naked infront of the whole city if he wins it and then does COMMANDO gesture on stage.

Please don't, I think you will repulse a lot of people with that stunt.

 

[suckabov]

For the record, I don't think it would be entirely unjustified if CR does win it. I just don't agree that the past few weeks make him the undoubtedly deserved winner.

For my taste, none of the three favourites truly deserves it. Messi was too inconsistent and injured for too long, Ribery didn't stand out too much, Ronaldo didn't win trophies and didn't have as amazing a year as Messi had (2012) when he won the BD without havong won any trophies to make up for it.

If I would have to choose anyone, it's Lahm. He has been flawless for a few years now, for club AND country.

We shouldn't fool ourselves though, Ronaldo is not going to win it, whether he deserves it or not. Realistically, it will be between Messi and Ribery. 3 (!) votes for Ronaldo in the UEFA Best Player voting should tell you enough about his chances. Having said that, I hope Messi will win, even if he's not as deserving as in previous years.


To set the record straight about some of the things that have been said though:

Well if ronny ends the year like this then i think he can very well win it, i will dance naked infront of the whole city if he wins it and then does COMMANDO gesture on stage.

Voting ends next friday. Thus, it won't play a role if Ronaldo keeps up his current form for the rest of the year. Neither will his possible qualifying for the world cup against Sweden. (I also don't think that winning the play-offs would be much of a vote attractor, Portugal could just as well have directly qualified supposing that Russia is not as tough an opponent as Spain is for France, for example).

 

[Luftstalag14]

We shouldn't fool ourselves though, Ronaldo is not going to win it, whether he deserves it or not. Realistically, it will be between Messi and Ribery. 3 (!) votes for Ronaldo in the UEFA Best Player voting should tell you enough about his chances. Having said that, I hope Messi will win, even if he's not as deserving as in previous years.

My fear is, if CR7's showing at the UEFa best player award could serve as some sort of indication of his placement in the the Ballon D'Or race, so could Ribery's.

Again, I sincerely hope you are right.

 

[suckabov]

My fear is, if CR7's showing at the UEFa best player award could serve as some sort of indication of his placement in the the Ballon D'Or race, so could Ribery's.

I think it is: There's no doubt Ribery will probably get the large majority of journalists votes, just like last year, when the same applied for Iniesta. Considering the journalists votes, I expect the same results as for the UEFA award, meaning Messi to finish second and Ronaldo third. Last year and the years before that, Messi however got nearly all of the captains and coaches first place votes (with Ronaldo getting most of the second or third place votes), which nullified any advantage Iniesta had on the journalists' front. I'm not too sure but I expect the same to happen this year, though not nearly as clear as last year (when Messi finished with 40% of the total votes). Of course there are players who change their opinion and will not vote for Messi as first place, but if they do, I doubt that they would pick Ronaldo instead. Rather, they'll probably go for Ribery, seeing that Ronaldo scoring loads of goals isn't any news and everyone knows Ronaldo and Messi well enough to not let their opinions be influenced so much by current form. Especially players like Ibra will probably go for Ribery and Messi second (which he already hinted at), just like last year, where he voted Xavi over Messi.

What I just described would, however, only apply if Ribery is indeed perceived to be Bayern's main man. As I said, one reason for the large majority Ribery won the UEFA award by was that there were no other Bayern players left to vote for. Dont' know how much of a factor this will be. If he isn't perceived that way, the journalists votes will probably be split up between him, Schweinsteiger etc, in the end perhaps making Ribery's advantage less drastic or even allowing Messi a small relative majority.

And yeah, the BD doesn't really make sense. With Messi around, many voters just vote by status (no, not by popularity or "good boy factor"). Which is understandable with a once-in-a-lifetime player around, but not really fair for others.

 

[WallBreaker]

Welp say your prairs gentleman, pictures of my genitals are on the line...

I think Ribery will win, messi doesnt have enough momentum and ronaldo has plenty of haters, and ribery won the cl.

Maybe his current form and his victory over blatter will gain some sympathizers for cr7.

 

[suckabov]

Well if ronny ends the year like this then i think he can very well win it, i will dance naked infront of the whole city if he wins it and then does COMMANDO gesture on stage.

He will salute if Messi steps onto the stage to accept his 5th:

here is Cristiano saluting the general

 

[Catorce]

If he wins it, it is only because of the form in the last 6 weeks. Just like Cannavaro winning it because of 4 weeks of good play in the World Cup '06. Incredible how people forget Messi scored 46 goals in La Liga alone while being injured in the end and not playing the final games. Would have broken the 50 goal mark twice in a row. Scored against all 19 opponents in a row. Carried the team to La Liga victory. And for me most importantly: the goals he scores are usually way more impressive than Ronaldo's goals, it's as simple as that. Scoring 5/16 goals from the spot isn't that impressive either, with two or three goals that were deflections.

But if it makes Triastiano happy, he can have it. But the best player in the world? No. Not even close.

 

[suckabov]

Yeah, it's quite amazing that Messi's weakest season in a while is still superior to most other players' good seasons.

My fear is, if CR7's showing at the UEFa best player award could serve as some sort of indication of his placement in the the Ballon D'Or race, so could Ribery's.

Again, I sincerely hope you are right.

Just checked again and noticed this: 2010, Messi was only voted 4th (!) by the journalists, behind Snejder and Xaviniesta. The margin to Wesley Snejder was 120 points, which is huge. Still, in the end, Messi won with 22.65% of the total votes, thanks to his large "lobby" among NT coaches and, more importantly, NT captains. Iniesta (17.36%), Xavi (16.48%) and Snejder (14.48%) were 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively.

This shows how big a lobby both Ribery and Ronaldo would need to defeat him. I can imagine we will get similar though even more tight results this year, with Ronaldo being among the top 4 and a lot of votes split among Bayern players. Perhaps: Messi 20%, Ronaldo, Ribery 18%, Schweinsteiger 15% and so on.

Honestly, I don't even care anymore who will win - the award has become meaningless now that it has been quite clear who is the best player in the world for some years. This year especially was very tight, no one really stood out more than others. Just hope to see Messi beasting it up again in 2014

 

[Leo10]

suckabov your analysis is absolutely spot on. :beer2:

 

[Gohan]

He should win it this year because of his consistency and his oustanding performances last 6 weeks. But also, Ronaldo is only winning on statistics because Messi was injured..

Aanyways, let Ronaldo have it this year and Messi once fully fit will reclaim his crown next year!