2014 is almost over, and in less than 1 month, the best player of 2014 will receive the Ballon D Or. As well know, the three candidates are Ronaldo, Messi, and Neuer. Who do you think deserves the award? Ronaldo has arguably had the best year of his career, winning all individual awards possible (apart from the world cup) and guiding his team to 4 titles, he managed to scored a total of 61 goals. Messi, even though he didn't have the best year of his career, did manage to pop in 58 goals, as well as winning the World Cup Golden Ball and leading Argentina to the final against the Germans. In 2014, he also became the top scorer in history of El Clasico, the Champions League, and La Liga. Not Leo's best year, but certainly not one to forget. The third candidate, Manuel Neuer, won the German double with Bayern Munich, as well as none other than the FIFA world cup with the German Naitonal Team, as well as winning the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper in the tournament. The only keeper that has ever won the Ballon D Or (called "European Player of the Year" at the time), was Lev Yashin, the Russian goalkeeper who won it in 1963. In recent years, the goalkeeper who got closest to it was the legendary Gianluigi Buffon, who got the "Silver Ball" second to his international team mate Fabio Cannavaro. So who deserves the 2014 Ballon D Or? Obviously for me the obvious choice is Ronaldo for everything he has accomplished in 2014, winning the most trophies individually as well as collectively , but everyone has different opinions. Please no fighting, just a formal discussion. Thanks!

@Tiki

"The Pichichi is a thing, the better player is another."

Yes, and Ronaldo won both the best player in La Liga in 2013/14 and the Pichichi. Your point?

The first leg of La Liga 2013/14 Messi was injured for 3 months and half, so its logical to give it to Ronaldo. Messi only played second leg and Only 2014 is judged here, and Messi was the best player from January to June stats as a fact.

If you look well, James is ranked ahead of Neymar while Neymar has better stats this season, comparing best players playing in diferent positions doesnt work with stats, but many tend to forget that, few watch both Madrid/Barça games so im not surprised by Ronaldo popularity he deserved it, but Messi was there too playing a different role at times and arguably better overall.

I dont have a white/Black vision or Ying and Yang, i said before it depends on the criteria but no matter what it is, Messi is right there in top 3. Putting Di Maria in front of him is a joke even Di Maria will laugh loud at you.
Except is you assume your vision and put Di Maria first assuming you judge only in achievement wich is an arguable vision, but there is no way you put Ronaldo on stats and then another for WC and the other for something else its more putting your beloved ones and finding fast justifiacations, same criteria should be applied for all.

You cant judge by achievements, nor Fifa either way a German would win. ( Last year Ribery should have won it if achievements were the criteria )

@tiki_taka you're absolutely right, but most of Ronaldo's goals aren't tap ins.

Now if Dynast wasnt Silly, and only put the Top 3 on the list votes, it would have been more fair and realistic, instead he ignored the final list as if Messi presence was non related to the pitch. And if many agree on something but all give clueless argumentation ( in this case many Madrid fans ) than number doesnt count as a srenght.
The fantasm of some people is to say that Messi failed this year, well it would have been awesome for many bad sadly for them, it wasnt the case in any competition, now he seems to be fully recovered and clearly better at the moment of the year than Ronaldo, despite Madrid being stronger than Barça, Without Messi we would be 12 pts ahead in the league and probably second in CL group while Madrid would still be first without Ronaldo in both competitions.

@tiki_taka agreed, but you have to remember, that Madrid's squad is much better than Barcelona's ATM, the team has better chemistry, and Madrid's players are much more versatile than Barca's. Madrid can replace any player easily (other than Ronaldo, because nobody in Madrid has his poaching abilities) Messi isn't really being better than Ronaldo, he seems to be scoring, but then disappearing in some games (getafe recently). He is still not on his best version, and overall, I think Ronaldo has been superior in the first period of La Liga.

Now, this is what this thread is for, I put the top three players that are currently nominated, and he put the top 25 (I believe don't quote me on that) so I think he just did it to give people a bigger choosing area, because some people for example, might think someone like Robben deserves to be in the top three. So, I quite like the idea that he put in 25 players, and made it a top 5 instead of a top three, just gives a bigger outlook on what the futhead community thinks.

@Dynastian
"There are also those who understand the point, but simply don't agree."

yea, and in that situation one would expect a better argument as reply instead of seemingly catchy one-liners.

Ok let me clear things up.

Messi: 56 games
Ronaldo: 48 games

but lets put that aside.

You see, does a player take complete control of the pitch? NO
So who does- The Coach.

I know everyone knows that so let me explain.

In the year 2012 messi scored 91 goals, Impressive? YES.

HOW:

Aside of Messi's amazing performance ill give 80% acknowledgement to Guardiolas tactic.
2010: Messi + Ibrahimovic
2011:Messi + David Villa
2012: Messi. (david villa was a substitute for a majority of games)

Well it was on this year where Messi played alone.

Because in that year he made barcelona focus on Messi, the way he can play as he can dribble and score the way he likes. Just by judging on the stats where messi is the top scorer with 60 goals and villa with only 13 goals.

He made Barcelona play for Messi and he does the rest so it can pull out all of Messi's talents inch by inch. Did it work? YES.

However untill the formation called: Park the bus.

Even Messi cant dribble past 10 players. They need a team to break it down.
So after that any team faces barcelona, parks the bus and guardiola started to have a tough time against it untill he resigned and left for bayren.

Now ancelotti isnt making madrid focus on ronaldo and if you want proof, sad to say but 25% of his goals were penalties and another 30% were tapins. So his scoring form is great but not amazing.

however another proof that ancelotti is making a team-not focusing on CR7- ronaldos assist and passing.

Come on the guys is a complete different type of guy, he starts to pass and assist more, and now almost everyone in madrid is scoring.

You see creating a team around a single player works, but not against a TEAM.

Bayren is super strong team but just look at their player stats, almost all are equal except robben.
madrid are turning just like them and Ronaldo only higher stats like robben for bayren.

Now barcelona is changing making A COMPLETE TEAM. With Neymar + Messi + Suarez they make a strong force only thing left is how enrique can make some good use and tactics.

To sum up its pathetic as a football fan for saying a player carries the whole team, in other words:

• • He cant carry the whole team without the support, like a bridge without its pillars.

So why ronaldo deserves the ballon d'or, cause of his personal performance and key to help win madrids trophies this year.

I'm saying that we have no right in judging their performances thats why we can bring up stats only.

The difference between Messi when he got the trophy aside from 2-6 in 2009 and 5-0 in 2011, scoring in every final winners not late goals when the party is over. In 2010 Messi didnt deserve it like Ronaldo in 2013 and Messi was the better as now, because he starts actions and finishes it, Ronaldo used to be stronger than the actual one, and Ronaldo is still not decisive in big games nor in finals...

Lets take 2 actions, Palacio miss Vs Neuer and Ramos late equalizer at 94th, switch those 2 small actions and the mass media and mainstream would be all screaming Messi was the best, people doesnt watch Football they only remember the headlines and very easy to get influenced.

You prefer Ronaldo for his stats, lets take this then, August- december 30 goals ( 10 Penalty kicks most of them he personally dived or Marcelo or small contact or something ) The fact is that your Beloved player dive at 3-0 to get this extra goals while Messi let Xavi shoot twice and get lately 0 pk whistled on his side.

10 PK only in August-December, please tell me how Ronaldo scored his stats that should make him the best ever, I watched players dribling the entire team before scoring and you coome and bring me those reasons....

Its a fantasm to think that only Ronaldo was out of this world, in fact 2 players were and one should get more credit from experts, who cares about what the mass thinks....

If stats matters that much then Ronaldo should get and will be bashed for his next dive at 3-0 and as you may expect many of this will come... ( Already many non whistled ).

See by your logic you are disrespecting Bale who scored in every final of Madrid and Di Maria who was very decisive the whole year, im one of those who thinks Xavi-Iniesta should have won at least one BO because of their whole contribution...

Despite BO hype and rockstar ceremony, its another marketing thing that needed two icons to get credit because before 2010, BO used to be a French trophy give by a Magazine ( France Football ).
While now, votes are taken by backing players, friendship with national teams captains...

Messi and Ronaldo no matter who you put first shouldnt really be separated in rankings, if people want to be coherent then put them 1st and 2nd ignoring the Germans, or 2nd and 3rd by giving it to a German and then i wont be complaining about who really deserved it or not, both could have been deserved winners and both could not win it at the same time because both flopped in some big competitions, ( Messi in CL and Ronaldo in WC ).

I have no idea where u got that I disrespect di Maria and bale
I actually meant that in Madrid everyone gets credit so please, don't say that I disrespect my favourite teams players.

However nevertheless I understand what ur saying and I agree that the BO is starting to be a marketing thing nowadays since 2010, but if they gave it to neur this year, trust me, the media will be swarming with rumors and pathetic shit

@dynastian when ronaldo has no players to assist him he is useless. take the world cup for an example.

Man seriously no matter how you want to twist it or try to come with facts and whats not or say BO is this and that, Ronaldo is the best player of this Year. He should win BO. If he doesn't it don't even matter every football fan on this earth knows deep deep down that Ronaldo is better this year and deserve it. Even you knows this mate.

try to let it go...

@Salah You want it so hard that you forgot to put any argument, same for Lilly and Dynast...

See lets all let it go, because those kind of arguments make me think im right.

@Lio Ronaldo wasnt at his best in WC he seemed tired because he let many energy during the year scoring late goals, he clearly choose the decima over WC and even his communication showed it, '' im not 100 per cent but i will play and loose 4-0 against Germany'', clearly stats and BO are more important in his eyes and its not a secret.

See i was furious about Messi for not giving his all in march and April as he used to specially against Atletico, but he had WC in mind and made sure not being injured again specially against Atleti World class butchers, Costa and Ronaldo had the same WC for the same reasons, you cant be everywhere physically as a human being.

Many Madrid fans joined lately and i understand people wanting me out of here, but people who believe in their points should be able to defend it and see opposite views of rivals and try to understand why they think so...

Lets take Chelsea example, a team who clearly dont care about the stats or the performence but only take results, and as much as painful it may seem for me, but it is working and they work as a team and have chances to win silverwares...

No mate you get me wrong. People maybe want you gone but i am for sure not one of them. I actually enjoy all your posts even the ones that you are wrong (like this one :D) don't have anything against you. i am against you trying to make Messi look better when he is clearly not just to justify him wining this years BO.

@Tiki_Taka @liomessi10 No player is good without people to assist him. You can put Messi in Portugal and he would have still not made it out. Neither Ronaldo, nor anybody can be an a 1 man team. People say he disappears in big games, but I think otherwise, he wasn't good in the WC, UCL final, or club world cup, but he is usually good in El Clasico's, he's also good in the UCL knock out stages, he scored a brace in the UEFA super cup, as well as the 2011 cup final where he scored the winning goal and a good performance overall. You might say he flops in important games, but Messi last year flopped in every important game for his team and country. UCL semi final vs Atletico, La Liga final vs Atletico, El Clasico (this season) last season he got a hattrick (2 penalties), and world cup final. Now remember, Messi was good at the WC, but he only scored in the group stages. Iran, Bosnia, and Nigeria. Then in the knock out stages, he only assisted against Switzerland. The rest of the games, he was average at best. Ronaldo didn't have a good world cup, but his group was much harder, Germany, USA, and Ghana. You might say Ghana is a weak team, but you saw that they gave Germany a very hard time, their national team is very strong believe it or not. Portugal didn't even have Pepe in defense for 2 games (for a silly little head butt) and if I remember correctly Coentrao was injured and didn't play most of the group stages. Portugal didn't have some of their key players apart from Ronaldo, also, do I need to remember you, Ronaldo played injured from April 2014, all the way to the World Cup, Basically the same as Messi the year before, but Ronaldo had the world cup right in the way. Apart from the world cup, Ronaldo was superior to Messi in most ways, he won more collective awards and individual awards, and also scored more goals in less games. And this season has been no different, he has started the 2014/2015 season with more goals, more assists, and more titles, but the BdO is for the calendar year, but Ronaldo has still been superior if you only count 2014.

Mate no one wants you gone, so stop making yourself a victim here.

Plus tiki stop saying late goals cause every goal counts no matter how big the margin is,

Example when dortmund and madrid played last year we were 3-0 and ronaldo scored the last goal.
when we played away ronaldo didnt play and we were 2-0 in half time plus a penalty miss from di maria.

so if ronaldo didnt score we couldnt reach the semi-final.

Late goals arent useless, but they arent decisive either

Exactly @rayrex7 Every goal counts, remember when City won the BPL on goal difference? Every goal counts, no matter when it is, and it doesn't matter when it is scored, it is always beneficial to score more and more, and it could decide a title, and we all know it.

@real madrid 17 perhaps you're actually right then.

What the general idea is that Barca fanboys had no problem with Messi controversially winning the Ballon d'Or in 2010, or winning it the next 3 years in a row. What becomes a problem is when major footballing specialists and former footballers, such as Ancelotti, R. Carlos, Ronaldo O Fenomeno, Lineker, and Pele say that C. Ronaldo deserves the Ballon d'Or, Barca fanboys go nuts. Messi has won the award 4 times in a row, there should be no problems with Ronaldo winning his 3rd (or so it would seem...).

He's quite simply performed better than any player in the world this year. His only competitors are probably Neuer, Robben, and Messi.

Hmm, would you look at that...