Sunday 19 October 2008

Messi, Xavi and Eto'o candidates for Golden Ball

The shortlist for the 2008 Ballon d’Or award has been announced earlier today. Barcelona players Lionel Messi, Xavi and Samuel Eto'o are amongst the 30 candidates to win the trophy.

The winner will be selected on 2 December
when 96 journalists from around the world cast their vote in a poll organised by French football magazine France Football.

Messi finished third last year, behind winner Kaka and Cristaino Ronaldo. Ronaldinho was the last Barcelona player to win the trophy in 2005.

Before, the Ballon d'Or was won by Barcelona players Luis Suárez (1960), Johan Cruyff (1973 and 1974), Hristo Stoichkov (1994) and Rivaldo (1999).



This is the 2008 shortlist:

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal, Togo)
Sergio Agüero (Atletico Madrid, Argentina)
Andreï Arshavin (Zenit Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany)
Karim Benzema (Lyon, France)
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy)
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal)
Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast)
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon)

Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal, Spain)
Fernando Torres (Liverpool, Spain)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan, Sweden)
Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina)
Pepe (Real Madrid, Portugal)
Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich, France)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England)

Marcos Senna (Villarreal, Spain)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain)
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich, Italy)
Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United, Netherlands)
Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg then Real Madrid, Netherlands)
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid, Netherlands)
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United, Serbia)
David Villa (Valencia, Spain)
Xavi (Barcelona, Spain)
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow, Russia)

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

"SHort list"


HAHAHAHHAh

Anonymous said...

where is iniesta?

Anonymous said...

As much as I support Barca and love Messi,Ronaldo deserves everything @least this year

Anonymous said...

And Ronaldinho!!!

Anonymous said...

maybe ronaldo scored a lot of goals...but i have seen him disappear in countless matches. he can score against weak opposition. but he is extraordinarily ineficcient. look at iniesta for example. look at his efficiency. look at messi's efficiency...

ronaldo is not a player for big occasions. man utd and portugal cannot count on him to save them in big matches. he is overrated. ballon d'or should be given to the most efficient player, not the most popular or who scored the most. it should be about quality not quantity.

Anonymous said...

i think what you achieved with your team matters too. Without Ronaldo, Man-u wouldnt have gotten to the Champs league final, they woldnt have won hte Prem. If Barca won the Liga then Messi would deserve it. I think they put all these things into consideration. + Messi was injure in the last 12months since Kaka won, while Ronaldo has played every game. When Barca win trophies then Messi would win it. last year 07 was kaka (ac won champs league), before then was Fabio Canavaro(italy won world cup). Barca has a role to play if our Golden son would win it

Anonymous said...

Great comment "Amar", 100% agree with you!

Anonymous said...

what amar said is quiet right but..let's face it they give it who scores and wins.and that's ronaldo.messi should win with our team,and they dont just look at individual display and ronaldo's was not out of quality thats for sure.the year before he was the third last year second..this year i hope it will be barças and messis season.

Anonymous said...

Messi finished 3rd last year? i thought he finished second, ahead of Ronaldo.

Anonymous said...

Ronaldo does not deserve anything he is proven only in premier league, champions league and portugal he is nothing but crap, messi is an absolute world's best. and he will win it this year.

Anonymous said...

So, do you think winning the Champions league and the local league (premiership) would be over looked and scorring over 40 goals in the same season? let be fair.. yes he "dissappears" is some games.. but that doesnt still mean he has done enough to win it. Messi is better than Ronaldo, but what did Messi win with us? What did Ronaldo win with Manu? Back-Back premiership and the UCL.
So, we can (as a team) only help Messi achieve this greatness by winning as many trophies as we can

Anonymous said...

there are two awards,fifa world player of the year and Ballon D'or.Messi was the second in fifa award, third in ballon dor.

barca nike said...

1) Messi
2)C.Ronaldo
3)Torres

Jacob said...

Hate to admit ..

D.Villa deserves this 100%

With both La Liga and European campaign he is in league of his own with nobody around him like everyone else mentioned on the list.

Did anyone see his performance this weekend against Numancia (I know its only Numancia, but still, WOW!)

...........
But still voting for L.Messiah!

Anonymous said...

Hello!

You have a great blog about Barcelona! Check out my blog about Lionel Messi!

Maybe we can link to each others blogs?

Anonymous said...

Meloch, we all worship messi here.

but one thing about your blog,its topic is too wide.you should look into possibility of narrowing down it.there is too much writing about it,you can't deal with it :)))good luck with it.

Anonymous said...

Andres,

Thanks for suggestion.. yeah right now i am trying to find my place in this HUGE world! lol

thanks for the luck!

p.s. i added you to my links.

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