The United Devils

On the 11th of January football fans and the media awaited the announcement of the annual ceremony of the Ballon d'Or in which the player with the most votes is crowned World player of the year for a particular seasonal year. Last year we witnessed Cristiano Ronaldo deservedly lift his 3rd Ballon d'Or title of his career and he displayed much gratitude to his followers and global fans for their continued support. We gave commiserations to Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. They unfortunately fell short at the final hurdle in what was a hotly contested competition for the World Player of the Year crown. This year was a whole different story but one we have witnessed many times over the previous years, a Messi victory. Lionel Messi was crowned 2014/15 World Player of the Year and deservedly so according too many journalists and football fans globally. Many critics say this victory was much anticipated, based on recent statistics – either Ronaldo or Messi having won the Ballon d'Or over the past 8 years.

So what exactly were the fundamental reasons why Messi picked up his 5th unprecedented Ballon d'Or title? Well the stats of the 2014/15 are very much self-explanatory. Messi, once again reached the heights that we have so often see him play during his fruitful and flourishing career. Some say that Messi was virtually unplayable against and the stats do support this argument. Messi in 2014/15 recorded 61 games, 52 goals and 26 assists. The stats do speak for themselves and although this may not have been Messi's greatest year or season in terms of goals or assists he certainly displayed his exhilarating ability to adapt for the good of the team and transition from the centre-forward position to right-wing in order to allow for the introduction of their threatening new acquisition, Luis Suarez. It also very important to consider the point that, aside all the stats and individual records, Messi won simply because of his willingness to play for the team and this was a master stroke by the Argentinian genius, as this meant that the Barcelona team gelled together and worked for each other in every single game they played. This resulted in their 5-trophy overhaul and the men from Spain made a statement to other teams around the world.

So how did Ronaldo and Neymar fall short? Well in the case for Ronaldo, it was year of woes. He was unable to exert the greater influence over the Madrid first team that we normally see him do. Real Madrid was a shambles and this directly hindered Ronaldo’s chances of winning the Ballon d'Or. Although he demolished Messi in terms of stats recorded over the past year with, 56 games, 61 goals, what he didn’t do was play for the team. What many critics like Guillem Balague have argued is that Ronaldo wants the team to play for him but the problem with Real Madrid is that it is a team full of many egos that are preventing the team from successfully gelling together and being a more effective team play force. So how is it that Neymar failed to win yet he did nearly the same job as Messi? Well personally I would have to say that it was inevitable that Neymar would be defeated. He is not quite the main man yet at the Camp Nou, Messi still is, therefore he will have to wait his time until Messi passes the mantle down to him. Some have even suggested that Neymar failed to win because his reputation precedes him. Messi has outshone him because the Argentinian is ever popular with the fans and that stronghold will be hard to break.

Author: Joseph Mukozho