This week, Lionel Messi won his fourth Ballon d'Or in as many years, having ended the 2012 calendar year with 91 goals, setting a new record. The little Argentine faced tough competition from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and fellow Barcelona team mate, Andres Iniesta, but deep down we all knew who would be the overall winner of this prestigious award. Messi became the only player to have won this award four times, with him describing the accolade as "really quite unbelievable" and "too good for words". However, some would argue that although Messi has won this award for the past four years, a more deserved winner is Portugal and Real Madrid winger, Cristiano Ronaldo.
There is no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo is a brilliant footballer, and one of the best around. Many say that if Cristiano hadn't have played in the same era as Lionel Messi, he could have easily won this award for himself more than once.
I watched an interview with ex Chelsea manager and current Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho the other day, and whilst he may be a bit biased towards his player, he did have some strong points regarding this matter. He claimed "It is much easier to be Messi than to be Ronaldo", and he did have some good points to back his claim. Firstly, Mourinho spoke of Messi growing up in the team he plays with. Barcelona have a fantastic youth set up, with the majority of their players being brought up from their academy. Messi first played for Barcelona's youth team competitively at the age of 13, and played along side current team mates such as Xavi and Andres Iniesta. Mourinho went on to say that Ronaldo came from England to a team that were losing, in which he had to grow in the team for 2 years, whilst the team were in construction. There is no doubt that you have to admire Ronaldo for this, but you wonder whether Lionel Messi could do the same thing, as it he has not been proven in another team, and is unlikely to ever leave Barca.
Jose went on to say "One plays a 9 or 9.5 (centre forward (Messi)), the other is a winger (Ronaldo). His argument was that Messi plays down the centre with 50 square meters around him and doing less defensive work, yet Ronaldo plays as a winger and scores nearly the same amount as goals as Messi yearly. He goes on to praise Ronaldo, saying that he always gets back and defends, always gives 100% even in the 94th minute, and never stops sprinting. He says that Ronaldo is this strong "animal" who uses his strength to stay up in situations against a defender, whilst one touch of Messi will knock him over. This last bit by Mourinho is one that I do not agree with. Messi has shown throughout the season's that although he lacks in strength, he makes up for it in his brilliant low centre of gravity. Messi isn't the player to dive, unlike Ronaldo, and will always try his hardest to stay up, rather than easily falling to the ground, winning his team a set piece.
Mourinho went on to say how it is harder to be Ronaldo than Messi, again, but he didn't give any more proper reasons. Now, I am big fan's of both the players. I love to watch them. In any game that they play, they will be the stand out players. Me personally, I just can not decide which one I think is the better player, and the deserved winner of the Ballon D'or.
Messi became Barcelona's all time top scorer at the age of only 24, a record that I can not see being beaten for many many years to come. Messi has won 5 La Liga's, two Copa Del Reys, three Champions Leagues and two Club World Cups. At the age of only 25, Messi can easily win another 10 major trophies in his career. In March 2012, Messi became the first player in Champions League history to score five goals in a single match, when Barcelona smashed Bayer Leverkusan 7-1. Messi is the joint holder of the most Champions League goals scored in a season, when he matched Jose Altafini's record of 14. Sticking to Champions League records, Messi became the first player to be the competitions top scorer in four consecutive seasons. These records are only to name a few, but you can tell just how amazing Lionel Messi is.
The Argentine often got criticised for performing better at club level, rather than his beloved Argentina, a side that he captains. At the U-20 level, Lionel Messi declined the chance to play for Spain, staying loyal to his Argentine heritage. Football fans criticised Messi, claiming that he loved the club more than his country, and argued he can not perform as well without the aid of Iniesta and Xavi. Messi proved his doubters wrong however, after scoring a hat-trick against traditional South American rivals, Brazil. After scoring against Paraguay in World Cup qualifiers, Messi had scored a record of 10 goals in his last 6 games at international level, and his 9th in 5 matches played in 2012.
Results show that Cristiano Ronaldo was Messi's closest rival in the Ballon D'or results. Ronaldo was also a record breaker in this year, but in this case with Real Madrid, rather than personal honors. Madrid broke La Liga's overall points record, as well as scoring the most goals and earning the most points ever in a La Liga season. After all, football is a team game, and Cristiano was the heart of this team, the start performer.
In conclusion, it is very hard to decide which of the two is the better overall player. Without a single doubt, these two are easily the best two players in world football at the moment, and maybe even the best two ever to have walked out on to a football pitch. I think in terms of who I would rather have in my team, I would chose Ronaldo. I think he can play all over the midfield and attack, and he has also proved himself in three different countries. However, I think Messi is the stand out performer, just! It is a shame that Ronaldo is playing in the same time era as Messi, but it is great for us spectators of the game.
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