Messi: a deserved winner of the FIFA Ballon d'Or

In a World Cup year, there has seemingly been an unwritten rule in football that the player who stood out most during the course of the tournament ended the calendar year by being crowned FIFA World Player of the Year, or winning the highly coveted Ballon d’Or. In the past we’ve seen how the likes of Paolo Rossi, Zidane, and Cannavaro have won such awards on the back of outstanding World Cup campaigns, in spite of a largely forgettable club season, and when there were arguably far more deserving candidates up for nomination. That is why, in the first year since the two awards merged to form the new ‘FIFA Ballon d’Or’, it was so refreshing on Monday night to see, not one of the two Barca based Spanish players win the award, as impressive as their achievements might have been, but undoubtedly the best player in the world, Lionel Messi.

By his own lofty standards, Messi’s World Cup was, while not a complete disaster, a largely disappointing affair, one marked by a few key moments of genius but overall seen as a frustrating battle, which resulted in no goals and saw Maradona’s Argentina fall at the quarter-final stage. In previous years, this fact may have ruled Messi out of contention and swung the pendulum in favour of World Cup winners Xavi or Iniesta, but, in somewhat of a testament to the outstanding form he has enjoyed during the rest of 2010, the young Argentine still came out on top in the voting process. The World Cup after all, as historic and important as it may be, is not the be all and end all. As tempting as it may be to side with the Iniesta camp, after his winning goal in extra-time against the Dutch, or supporters of Xavi, after the integral role he has played in the success of the best club side and national team, Messi’s play for Barcelona throughout the entire year has been truly breath-taking, with 59 goals in 52 club games, including 5 hat-tricks, truly outstanding statistics.

Such has been the brilliance of Messi’s performances that there was even serious debate later on in year whether he was genuinely the greatest player ever to play the game and, while it is certainly too early to draw up those kinds of conclusions, it at the very least indicates the immense impact Messi has had on world football in 2010. Furthermore, the importance of Messi to Barcelona can be seen during his absence from the side, the team looking somewhat toothless and lacking in killer instinct whenever he has been out of the starting lineup.

While the likes of Wesley Sneijder may have achieved more in terms of their ‘medal haul’, no player has truly come to close to matching the level of Messi’s performances over 2010, who himself still has a La Liga title to show for his efforts, as well as the mantra of being the most important player in what many have now dubbed as the greatest side, on club or national level, the word has ever seen. Perhaps the one player who has come closest to matching Messi’s brilliance on the pitch, Cristiano Ronaldo, who himself has put up outstanding goal scoring numbers, has too often underperformed at crucial moments over the course of the year, the gap in class between the two largely evident during Barca’s 5-0 drubbing of Real Madrid, in which, while Messi predictably shone, both Ronaldo and his teammates found themselves totally outclassed. What’s more, Messi isn’t an egotistical maniac in the mould of Pelé, or aggressive head case like his former national coach Maradona. He’s a humble, quiet and extremely likeable individual, one who comes across as entirely normal and whom you can’t help but want to succeed. In my view, it goes without saying that the winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or should be the best footballer in the world, not the one who has collated the most medals throughout the year, and on this occasion the voters got it right. Messi is undoubtedly a deserving winner.