The Ballon d'Or.

Translation by @EcceRex

I will start by saying that, in a team sport such as football; an individual award should not exist, and if it does exists, it should be awarded to an outstanding individual, highlighting a collective performance. In other words, the reward should go to the best player on the best team of the season. Why? As I’ve mentioned before, football is a collective sport and is useless to have an outstanding individual performance if it does not reflect on a collective basis. It was the case of Cristiano Ronaldo in the year 2011. He was awarded the Golden Boot (record included) but at the collective level, he only won Copa Del Rey; the less important title for the matter. On that year, Lionel Messi, despite having a poor performance in the Copa América with his national team, had a great performance individually and collectively speaking; his team won La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, and the subsequent UEFA Super Cup; doing sufficient merits to win the prize.

 This year, interestingly enough, it is the total opposite. Messi has had a remarkable individual performance but has failed to turn his performance into titles for his team, only winning the Copa Del Rey. However, Cristiano Ronaldo has not had such a good individual performance, comparing it to the argentine, but at the team level, he won La Liga (with a 100 record points, goals and other 15 records) and the Spanish Super Cup. In addition to what he has done with Real Madrid, the Portuguese had a great performance in the 2012 UEFA Euro Championship with Portugal, being one of the top scorers of the tournament with 3 goals and leading his country to the semi-finals; where they would fall at the hands of Spain, who ended up as champion, in penalties (which is a great achievement, given that Portugal was a team that came from the play-off, had fallen into the Group of death and all the ”experts”, as Mourinho would say, considered it  eliminated in Group Stage).

 They are the only two logical candidates for the Ballon d’Or. As much as we want to give credit to other players (especially to the Euro champions and/or the winners of the UEFA Champions league) the point of the bloody award is to balance the individual numbers with the collective performance. It should be that way. But it is not.

If we go back to the year 2010, year of the World Cup, the greatest football event in the world, we see that Spain is crowned champion for the first time in its history. Leo Messi, who came from winning La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup, in addition to the Golden Boot, leaves the tournament without scoring any goal and still wins the Ballon d’Or. The best teams of the season get no reward that year. Neither Mourinho’s Inter that won it all (The first Italian Treble in its football history) nor the Spanish National Team who were crowned champions that year. Isn’t football a team sport?

I am of those who think that no player of this great Spanish football era should be awarded the Ballon d’Or. And don’t take me wrong. In my opinion: is a good thing. When we speak of great teams in the World Cup's history, there is always a figure to be emphasized; Pele’s Brazil, Maradona’s Argentina, Zidane’s France, Beckenbauer’s Germany, etc. It’s a total different case with Spain. There is not a figure that stands out from everyone, even if it is Casillas, Torres, Iniesta, Xavi, Villa or Ramos. There lies the key to success; this is what football is about; team work.

They wanted to stick to Iniesta in the recent UEFA Player of the Year Award, which he won, but is a player whose individual performance is average. Players such as Juan Mata (UEFA Euro, UEFA Champions League and F.A. Cup champion) who has a lot better numbers than Iniesta. ((Mata: 13 goals and 20 assists. Iniesta: 10 goals and 17 assists)). And I won’t say anything about Mata’s collective work; he is also a European Champion. About Iniesta, I  have already explained it very well here and I don’t want to add something else (I’m not saying that Mata deserves the Ballon d’Or, I am saying that he has made more merits to win the award than Iniesta).

In the case of Real Madrid players who were also crowned champions with Spain; Ramos and Xabi, due to their playing position, is very difficult (if not impossible) that they win. In the case of Iker Casillas, besides being a goalie, has not had an outstanding season with Real Madrid, besides having an outstanding tournament with his National Team. There are people who say that so-and-so should be awarded the Ballon d’Or for his whole career, but the prize is, by mere definition,the best player of a year. Giving it for rewarding a player’s career is ridiculous.

Spain won the UEFA Euro, Chelsea won the Champions League, Real Madrid won La Liga, City won the Premier League and Dortmund won the double silverware in Germany (League and Cup). These are the important titles that have to be considered when choosing the winner of the Ballon d’Or. Be able to find the individual performance and figure out how it affects in the collective level, because football is and I will never get tired of repeating, a team sport. You can have 70 goals, but if they don’t come with titles, they are not worth it. I’d rather have 50 goals that will help the team to be the best La Liga champion in its history.

 Was Messi the top scorer in the Champions League? Yes. Did he win it? No.

Was Messi the top scorer of La Liga? Yes. Did he win it? No.

 What are those goals for? They are only good to add to La Liga’s history and to inflate Messi’s personal record, which is stratospheric, and brutal, but they have not bear titles in 2012, the season we are talking about.

The player who deserves the Ballon d’Or is Cristiano Ronaldo. He has had the best balance, individually and collectively speaking, but my opinion is that they won’t give it to him. Perhaps they envy him, perhaps he is underrated, maybe a little bit of both. Someone who deserves less and has not made so many merits will get it. History says so.

The prize has been discredited, since it has become more of a popularity contest rather than recognition. In 2010 Wesley Sneijder (16 goals and 17 assists) as he won everything with Inter (except for the UEFA Super Cup), was runner-up in the World Cup and one of its top scorers, being a midfielder. Wesley had no marketing nor sold an image. He was not even on the podium. No player of Inter, who won treble that year, was on the podium. It’s the same situation nowadays.

The Omega: Individual awards I care less or nothing because they are based on feelings or subjectivities rather than statistics and performance (and what such performance is worth). I prefer that my team wins La Liga or the UEFA Champions League to a player who gets awarded a historically discredited Prize.