Is Messi just too good, or is La
Liga too easy for him? …or is it the toughest league in the world? I started
wondering this after Messi won his 4th consecutive Ballon D’Ors and,
especially, after the ideal eleven starters on one team came all out of Real
Madrid and Barcelona, except for Colombian Radamel Falcao of Atletico Madrid.
Who decided this? I do not
understand these votes. Do the ideal eleven players really play in La Liga? Whatever
happened to players like Robin Van Persie, Andrea Pirlo, Drogba, Yaya Toure, Ibrahimovic,
Thomas Muller, Ribery, David Silva, among others?
I think this has a lot to do with
La Liga being the most watched soccer league in the planet, which proves that
marketing is a very powerful tool. Unfair to soccer players, fans and viewers,
but true.
Another factor to add to this is
that ten of the last twelve Ballon D’Ors recipients have come out of La Liga.
Honestly, I do not have a problem
with Messi winning the award, as he is clearly the best soccer player in the
world. He shows this week in and week out. His skills and ability with the ball
are unbelievable and no one compares to him. However, I think this year it was
Andres Iniesta’s turn to take this award home. No, he did not score 90+ goals
like Messi did, but what he did do was (like he does every season) be the playmaker of his club
team Barcelona FC and national team Spain. He actually won the 2012 Euro Cup
with Spain, while Messi did not win anything in 2012 with Argentina.Iniesta is
not only the brain of Barca and Spain, but also one of the best distributors of
the ball in the world. His creativity in small spaces and ability to see the
field out wide and find hidden gaps to make through passes make him a lethal
weapon on any given match.
Who knows? Maybe Messi without
Iniesta would have not performed as well as he did in 2012, but that goes the
other way around too, because an assist to be accounted for, it must be
finished.
This would be my ideal eleven, what would yours be?
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart (ManCity).
Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG), Vincent
Kompany (ManCity), Marcelo
(Real Madrid).
Midfielders: Andrea Pirlo (Juventus) , Yaya Toure (ManCity),
Andres Iniesta (Barca).
Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barca), Robin Van
Persie (ManU), Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
P.S. Yeah, CR7 is not on my list
because I do not like drama queens.
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| Ronaldo's face (left) when Messi (right) is receiving his 4th consecutive Ballon D'Ors |
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