Messi was still better than Mane in the semi-final. Just because Barca lost over the two legs doesn't make Liverpools best attacker better than Messi. Messi had an amazing first leg, and in the second leg he was the best player on the pitch in my view and everything Barca did was through him.
Ballon D’or 2019: who will win it? (Alleged leak: Messi 1, Van Dijk 2, Salah 3).
- Thread starter LazyRed-Ninja
- Start date
Messi should still easily get it.
No WC to highly influence voting.
Unless Messi has a car crash of a Copa to deter voters from him.
No WC to highly influence voting.
Unless Messi has a car crash of a Copa to deter voters from him.
Salah or VVD if Liverpool win the CL. Otherwise, Leo Messi.
Some MVP performance on Tue night.
He was, at best, the 13th best player on the pitch.Your favourite just ain't going to win this year, I wouldn't be posting smileys around. Next year i guess?
Seriously
Not everyone gets bailed out by Bale and Benzema.Some MVP performance on Tue night.
I'm sure you considered Ronaldo the CL MVP last season despite being a complete ghost in the biggest three matches.
Not everybody gets bailed out by Iniesta, Neymar, Referees also, by the same logic.
If you can ever see past the blind hatred, you may understand how ridiculous this "bailed out by x,y, z" logic is.
It has always been a stupid prize. How do you compare a defender or goalkeeper to an attacker?
Fellaini 
Has to be Messi.
I thought Messi increases the output of players on his team?
Ronaldo was topscorer last season with many more goals than Messi this seaosn.
He scored three more goals and that's because he started all six group stage games while Messi only started three this season.I thought Messi increases the output of players on his team?
Ronaldo was topscorer last season with many more goals than Messi this seaosn.
Individually, it's pretty obvious Messi had a more impressive CL campaign than Ronaldo did last season.
Messi should win it because he was easily the best player in the world for this season both in Champions League and domestically. But considering Ballon d'Or is all but competition for the best player in the world I wouldn't be surprised if they pick someone from CL winning team.
I would be surprised if they don't pull some Real Madrid player out of hat for at least top5.
I would be surprised if they don't pull some Real Madrid player out of hat for at least top5.
It will probably be Messi again. No other attackers are close to the stats that he posted this season.
Ballon d’Or isn’t even the FIFA award any more. That daft “The Best” thing is the main one now.
Messi for sure.
He was/is the most consistent and most deciding figure in Barcas title challenge, got to the CL semis and i think they are playing in the Cup finale.
He was/is the most consistent and most deciding figure in Barcas title challenge, got to the CL semis and i think they are playing in the Cup finale.
Anthony Martial to trigger the £7m to Monaco for an extra kick in the teeth for the Utd fans.
It isn't. The players mostly care about Ballon D'or. Fifa's the best is just a renamed FIFA world player of the year.
Ballon D'or is the award that has history behind it and apparently FIFA wanted them combined because noone really cared about their FIFA world player of the year (relative to Ballon Dor)
Before the Ballon d’Or and FIFA WPOTY merged, WPOTY was considered the more credible. I don’t know anyone who considers Michael Owen the legit player of the year for 2001. Ditto Nedved in 2004 or Sheva in 2005. Back then people just used to call it the European Footballer of the Year award, making it clearly a lesser award than the World Player of the Year.
To be honest, the Messi and Ronaldo era gave so much more exposure to the merged award than either had before that now Ballon d’Or has so much name recognition that the majority don’t even seem to realise they’re now different trophies. Obviously the voting method of “The Best” (again, such a shite name) makes it more credible than an award decided by the journalists of France Football though. Same as how nobody considers the FWA POTY award to be as significant as the PFA award.
Honestly if Messi doesn't win it, the award has become a certified farce.
What about if Salah or Kane score the most incredible hat trick in the CL final or such like?
I mean I don't doubt it'd influence some people, but 1 superlative game doesn't equate to an entire season of excellence.
Salah's not even been Liverpool's 2nd best player this season never mind their best. As for Kane, I also think you can argue Sissoko and Son have been more influential this season than him.
It already became a farce last year.
I’m gonna go with Messi because he is, in my and most people’s eyes, the best player in the world. The only Liverpool player who could have a claim is VVD, and as brilliant as he’s been, he isn’t the best player on the planet.
Salah winning it this year would feel odd for me no matter what happens in the final.
Has he been even better than Mane? CL performance Mane has the edge for sure, Salah didn't even play in the comeback game.
Has he been even better than Mane? CL performance Mane has the edge for sure, Salah didn't even play in the comeback game.
In all seriousness though, I think it should be Messi.
Having said that, if Salah finishes top scorer in the league (looking relatively likely), Liverpool win the CL (they're definitely favourites) and Egypt do well in and perhaps even win the ANC this summer (its in Egypt, they generally have a pretty good team, despite the WC debacle), I think there's a good chance he'd win it. Even more so if Liverpool do the unthinkable and win the league tomorrow.
Which would be funny because I think its fair to say he was better last season but we all know that isn't how the competition really works...
Having said that, if Salah finishes top scorer in the league (looking relatively likely), Liverpool win the CL (they're definitely favourites) and Egypt do well in and perhaps even win the ANC this summer (its in Egypt, they generally have a pretty good team, despite the WC debacle), I think there's a good chance he'd win it. Even more so if Liverpool do the unthinkable and win the league tomorrow.
Which would be funny because I think its fair to say he was better last season but we all know that isn't how the competition really works...
That too, but Ronaldo not winning, especially given who win it in 2010 makes it a bigger farce
There is a reason Ronaldinho cried when he won the Bllon D'or and not the Fifa World Player of the year and siad that was the indicvidual award he wanted the most. It might be more 'credible' but footballers care more about Ballon Dor they always have. Pogba talks about Ballon Dor now and not Fifa's Best, Neymar talks about winning the ballon dor and not Fifas best.
In the BEst fans can vote now I think. There is a reason that historically players have always said Ballon Dor and not Fifas best. Even Ronaldo prefers Ballon Dor over Fifa's best, he even said that it was the one he wanted to win iirc.
Although tbf I think South Americans generally valued the FifA world player as they couldn't win the ballon dor until very recently.
This.
With the world being tired of Messi/Ronaldo, I have no doubt Messi will not win it. Let them finish their careers with 5 and 5 I say
but is this even comparable to those years when Ronaldo was winning them? Messi lost those awards to Cristiano of all people, not just to any player that won the CL. it's not like Bonucci or Higuain would have been awarded with ballon d'or if Juventus had beaten Madrid in that final three years ago, just because they won the treble. this time there's Salah with only 4 CL goals and VDV and that's only if Liverpool actually win anything.
Fair enough, but somehow VVD has this massive hype where everyone is queueing up to say how amazing he is. Same happened with Modric last year. It's that weird, almost forced, media hype that plays a big role in years like these where the usual suspects don't win anything of note.
Daniel James.
The award has always been a farce, one that people pay far too much attention to.
yeah, I understand what you're saying, just think it's a bit different this time. Modric was key midfielder at Madrid that won the CL while also being great for our NT in Russia. it was world cup year after all.
VVD is being thrown into all this almost by default imo, like he had some kind of perfect season. Liverpool had 5 points clear of City at the start of february, yet they're about to lose the title while already being out of every other domestic cup. if City finish the job tomorrow, Liverpool's domestic season will in reality be complete failure. nobody would even talk about him if Salah had Ronaldo's stats in CL, but because it's not the case and he didn't even play in their comeback, they just moved to another Liverpool player.
obviously it would be completely different if Liverpool win the double but I don't even want to think about it.
It will definitely be Virgil Van Dijk, and if he wins it, he'll totally deserve it...
Like they say, football is not just about goals.
VVD for balon d'or
Like they say, football is not just about goals.
VVD for balon d'or
True. Buffon would have