3 reasons why Modric deserves to win the FIFA Best award

#1 It is time for a new face

Ronaldo and Messi have utterly dominated football in the last decade

The Ronaldo and Messi rivalry is well documented, over the last ten years, they have been engaged in an exclusive battle to determine who the best in the world is, setting more records than some clubs have had players, and winning numerous personal accolades.

All individual award ceremonies in the last decade had been turned into a playground for the two, a duopoly where all awards podiums were a matter of Messi, Ronaldo and which mortal would occupy third place (Kaka himself said he was the last human to win the Ballon d'Or in 2007).

It became a question of who between the pair would win the awards, as their performance levels were so otherworldly that no other player could even contemplate being in the top two. Prestigious awards such as the Ballon d'Or lost its appeal, as it was already a fore-given that one of Messi or Ronaldo would win it even before a ball was kicked in anger to begin the season.

However, after ten years, it has become a bit boring, the debate about who is the better between the two has only increased with each passing year, with almost equal number of supporters on each side, the intensity of the debate has been so intense, that it spawned a website dedicated to just the stats and records of the two and a Wikipedia page dedicated to the rivalry.

Yet, the debate has not been settled and probably never will.

It is time for fans and the game of football to accept Messi and Ronaldo together as the best of their generation and among the greatest of all time, because trying to decide the better of the pair is an exercise in futility.

There is also something beautifully poetic about ending their rivalry this year, as the greatest sporting rivalry in footballing and possibly sporting history, which was so intense that a winner couldn't be convincingly picked came to an end in its tenth year, with two of the best players in that generation by far winning exactly 5 best individual player awards each, and would lend more credence to the fact that neither was the superior player.

This would be a fitting end to their story, having it end any other way would be an unbefitting climax.

After so many years of grabbing all the headlines and awards, it is time for a new face to be crowned, and Modric has been one of the best of the rests during Messi and Ronaldo's dominance, so it is only apt that he be the player to usher in the new era.