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!

Lol Ancelotti and Phenomeno are labeled Madridistas, so backing from Perez or someone else doesnt Matter.
Pele feels hunted by Leo in term of greatness, he bashed unfairly Neymar for the same reason...
And thank you for saying this here about contenders, Messi wasnt even included in top 5 in your vote just to see who his the fan boy.

And its funny that you chose only stats where Ronaldo is ahead, very objective indeed, in the total Messi is still first.

And in the Champions League too, wow...

@Tiki

I don't believe Messi is deserving of being in my top 5. Why is that such a problem to you? Did I bust your balls by not putting Messi in my top 5 for the Ballon d'Or. I frequently state he is the 2nd greatest player of all time, am I really a fanboy Tiki? Or are you the fanboy who loves to hate anything related to Real Madrid, England, and Ronaldo.

''His only competitors are probably Neuer, Robben, and Messi.'' Quoting you, do you have Alzhaimer ?

And for stats 2013/14 is not the calendar year 2014, you are taking the period of 2013 where Messi was injured, can you learn how to use things properly or your silliness has no limits ?

2014 = January-June ( Liga+cl) + World cup + August-December ( Liga+cl)Its very easy and i did the job for you.... Ronaldo was only better in CL January-June period, the rest Messi was better.

And stop adding 2013 stats he was already awarded for this period, if you want help make from 1/1/2014 to June and see the results for la liga, then put world cup oh wait no need ;) then put from 28/08 to 26/12/2014 in CL+Liga Messi is above him in both competitions...

@tiki_taka I'm sorry, but it is simply ludacris saying Messi has been better in the league than Ronaldo, CR7 has been more influential, and has been overall the better player in the league in 2014.

From 01/01/2014 to 18/05/2014 :

From 23/08/2014 to 27/12/2014 :

@tiki_taka, yes you already posted this... What page is this from? You know this can't be good when someone like Bruno is third. This takes into account defending as well as "poss" which I guess is possession, but IMO defending shouldn't be important for attackers... Thats like saying a CB is better than another CB because he scores more goals. You judge an attacker for what he delivers in the attacking aspect of the game, not the defending one. it's a completely different story for a central midfielder or full-back

Yes this is taking all positions since we cant compare 2 players playing different positions...
Im sure its the first time you hear about Bruno, it wont be surprising. Few Madridistas know midtable players and their worth until they got signed.
Villareal is full of talents, Cherychev ex RM castilla player, Vietto, Cuardado... many amazing players play outside top 3.

Why are you changing the subject? Just because I support Real Madrid doesn't mean I'm ignorant. You don't just infer I don't know about relatively unknown players just because I support Real Madrid. And see, the stats you are showing me are bullshit. It technically means Bruno is better than the likes of Kroos, James, Rakitic, etc. and lets be honest, that isn't true. You measure how good a player is by their performances according to their position. For example, a center attacking mid will have it easier than a striker, because he attacks, as well as defending more, and touching the ball more overall. Anyways, this is Ballon D Or talk, don't know why you're bringing Villareal into the table

BTW, who's Cuardado?

Ballon D'or has simply become a popularity contest and the two most popular players in this time are Ronaldo and Messi. Its a shame because this trophy has lost its meaning and basically just became about who scored more. I dont believe a goalkeeper or defender will ever win it again if Neuer doesnt win it this time. Winning a world cup, being the most influential player in your team to lift the most prestigious trophy in football should be the single most important factor. a CL happens every year and the teams have better preparations and chemistry, and hell if a player is slacking you can pay for a better one. In the other hand, the world cup is limited to the selected players with a lot less preparations and chemistry and the fact that its during their only break period of the year, it shows the players are strongly worn out.

Neuer will always be ahead of Ronaldo and Messi in the 2014 BO, in my opinion. Had real madrid lost the UCL final there wouldnt even be a debate about it.

* Giovanni Dos Santos, both are Mexicans, Guardado is Valencian. Very similar player, mistake.

Oh ok, yes I know who Gio is -.- Guardado plays for PSV I believe

@Tiki

"''His only competitors are probably Neuer, Robben, and Messi.'' Quoting you, do you have Alzhaimer ?"

• It's written 'Alzheimer'.

Yes I did say that, and that's because I'm not the only one voting. Do you understand? Many others may vote for Messi. I'm just not voting for him. Or are you unable to comprehend any word that goes against your holy Messi(ah)? As a matter of fact, go and check the votes on my thread for Ballon d'Or. I can guarantee you that more people than me left Messi out of their top 3. But you won't say anything to them because you love busting my balls as a Farca fan. :)

Pathetic comment, of the 2 Messi was, still and will be the best. But a German deserves it this year...

I honestly don't think a German deserves it. Why does 7 good games make you deserve it more than a player that has been outstanding all year? And if thats the case, why did Messi win it in 2010, when all he won the league with Barcelona? (club world cup, and spanish super cup). Why did he win it in front of Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder, or even Casillas? I'm pretty sure they all deserved it more in that case. The sad thing is, neither Sneijder, or Casillas were nominated for that years Ballon D Or. Just because Ronaldo played 3 bad games (world cup games) doesn't mean he doesn't deserve it, when he's been the best player this year, individually, as well as Real Madrid winning more titles than any other team.

@RealMadrid17

Excellent comment. Fanboys find it difficult to digest that.

@Realmadrid17, because those 7 games are the single most important games in a players' career. That is why.

As for the BO in 2010, its the exact same thing. It wasnt right for him to win it either, no one is arguing that. The point is 2 wrongs dont make a right.

@Raimondo

However, that is not what Messi fanboys are arguing. If that is what they truly said, then they must be able to admit that Messi didn't deserve the Ballon d'Or in 2010, but they would never be able to do that. They are just furious that Ronaldo might come within 1 Ballon d'Or of their Messiah.

I don't believe that the World Cup is an accurate judgment of a player's year. This is why.

1. Say a player has a poor team in general, but they qualify for the World Cup. So should a poor showing blemish their chances at the Ballon d'Or when their campaign with their club has been excellent? Absolutely not. That would be harsh.

2. If a player does excel at the World Cup, then should it give them an advantage over others? Yes, because it is difficult to perform at a tournament as prestigious as the World Cup. The pressure is immense. However, just because one player performed at the World Cup and another didn't shouldn't automatically decide the Ballon d'Or. Both club and country games should be taken into consideration. For example, Costa's UCL + Domestic campaign would be taken into consideration against Robben's UCL + Domestic + World Cup campaign since Costa didn't perform that well in the WC. However, it shouldn't automatically be decided that Robben is the winner. In this case, yes, Robben did perform better than Costa throughout 2014, but if it was the other way around, then Costa shouldn't be ruled out immediately because of a poor showing at the WC.

@Raimondo We understand that it's only about goals, however it wasn't only this year but since 2010, it's pathetic when ronaldo has a chance to win it, and than suddenly stats aren't good enough to win?!

In 2010 is actually the same like this year Messi was top scorer but had a humiliating world cup and barely scored a single goal and one offside assist.

Snjeider had an amazing world cup went in the final won the treble and where was he? Not even in the top 3.

This year is the same Ronaldo had a pathetic world cup however was top scorer and won 4 trophies

So why now? Huh why from all the time, now everybody starts talking, this is why we Madrid fans are talking about. I swear if we were talking about messi and ronaldo was in messi's form this year, All of you would say messi deserves the BO. So don't say it's about business or marketing, it's about envy and hate within the fans

If iniesta or snjeider won the world cup than neuer deserves it hands down and ronaldo will go second MULLER 3rd this is ok.

So please if ur keep blabbing about the world cup than u r without a doubt just hating on ronaldo and have nothing else better to do.