Breaking News Which Isn’t All That “Breaking”: Lionel Messi Wins Ballon d’Or.

Some times,just hanging on by a hair,maybe only one Point:
1966 Charlton VS Eusébio
1st Bobby Charlton England Manchester United 81
2nd Eusébio Portugal Benfica 80
3rd Franz Beckenbauer West Germany Bayern Munich 59

1996 Sammer VS Ronaldo
1st Matthias Sammer Germany Borussia Dortmund 144
2nd Ronaldo Brazil Barcelona 143
3rd Alan Shearer England Newcastle United 107


1972 Beckenbauer Gerd Müller and Netzer difference 2 points
1st Franz Beckenbauer West Germany Bayern Munich 081
2nd= Gerd Müller West Germany Bayern Munich 079
2nd= Günter Netzer West Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach 079

It's pretty shocking to see people say Messi wont improve. I've been watching him for years and I can EASILY say he is improving. He's still very selfish, and I can come up with a number of times when he dribbled rather than passing to another teammate in a MUCH MUUUUCH better position than him

Once he learns to play with his team better (and he is getting better, I can see it. From a year ago, through out last season, he improved.) he will become an unbelievable monster.

Secondly, he is left-footed, yet his right foot has been getting better, too. He has scored a bunch of goals with his right foot now, almost as amazing as his left.

His work ethic has not tapered, and he has shown he can learn new tricks (header at Rome?) so why would you say he can't get better?

and in a related news Cristiano Ronaldo won the best SHAVED EYEBROWS AWARD!!!

messi wont get too much better, players like messi peak very early. The height thing as well as agility come earlier then for tall players. Messi is undoubtably a good player but hard to compare messi to zidane or even ronaldo who have won everything under the sun basically, ronaldo for instance was a goal scoring machine during his time at barce and they made a profit off of him.

He will probably win next years as well unless something massive happens in the WC10. During argentina matches the team really isnt built to benefit him, the wingbacks are shit and completely useless, with no wingbacks pushing up to help him messi is basically being double marked without an options to pass and another defender waiting in case he passes those 2. if maradona was smart he might change the formation to a 352 using 1 minded CM and 1 box to box and 1 creative CM but he wont, because he has to try and accomodate too many strikers into a team. cant remember the last good wingback produced by argentina.

he deserves the win though, amazing player. his dribbling is all pretty and stuff but its his drive and game intelligence that makes him special, he holds up the ball and releases it at the right time, it took c.ron till he was 23 to realize that and many players in their mid 20s still dont have that kind of on the pitch smarts.

Pele and Ronaldo (the original) surpassed Messi at his age (22). Maybe I'm wrong but can anybody think of anybody who has done more at that age? It doesn't mean Messi won't hit a wall in terms of performance or get injured in the next couple of years. Im not saying he will end up surpassing di Stefano, Zidane, and Cruyff. He likely won't but its what he does in his prime that will determine his legacy and that still hasn't happened.

The reason why leo won it which such a number is because 1st he was the obvious winner 2nd no one else did anything special last season and by that I mean the whole not a couple of month
Let's face it there aren't as many great players competing for this thing year in and year out as in the zizou and the brazilian ronaldo days back then there was so many great players that every year when someone wins it you go like " nooo not him xx deserved it more " well cept when it was handed to zizou of course :-)

Messi , pele , same sentence ? Please

Good. He deserves it. The exciting part is how much he can still improve if he avoids serious injury. He's only 22. At the same age, Maradona was leaving Boca Juniors to go to Barcelona and Zidane was still at Bordeaux. In terms of young prodigies, only Pele and the Original Ronaldo compare or surpass him. Its unfair to fully compare him to most of those guys seeing as how he still has a long way to go to write his story. However, at 22, only Ronaldo and Pele. What happens from there is up to luck (injuries) and how dedicated he remains to improve.

Tomek: I would say that his performances in Argentina are due to bad coaching. Last year, under a different coach, he was not bad. Even when Maradona barely arrived he was doing great. Overtime he is just declining.

Otherwise, it becomes apparent that Xavi and the others in Barca make his life much easier. At Arg. he struggles, but still shows his incredible individual skill. For a demo of this, you can watch the Barca-Madrid game that just passed, and you will see him take on 2-4 Madridistas with ease.

now begins the hard work. staying at the top and delivering for a long time. not a one time wonder.

tru test begins in south africa

Let's gather up to buy the larges banner on :www.pixelizemyteam.com. everton und notts are already there !!!!!

Let’s show them that our team is the best

I don't give a fuck.

Giving individual awards in a team sport is a joke IMO.

Besides Messi was crap for Argentina, showing that it's mostly 'cause of the amazing Barca midfield. I would've given it to Xavi.

best soccer of each decade
1) Di Stefano (Puskas 2nd place) 1950's
1) Pele (Garrincha 2nd place) 1960's
1) Cruyff (Beckenbauer 2nd place) 1970's
1) Platini (Zico/Maradona 2nd place) 1980's
1) Ronaldo (Romario 2nd place) 1990's
1) Zidane (Ronaldo/Ronaldinho 2nd place)2000's

Yeah, not sure about Pele just yet. Pele's Brazil was nearly unstoppable and Messi's Argentina are pretty stoppable.

LOL

conor is right. a bit of a knee-jerk reaction I am hoping. A Zidane every generation? Really?

quite the overreaction. pele? lets see him do it over more than a year. and since when is there a zidane aound every decade? give him some credit. have u ever seen him play?