FIFA Ballon d'Or 2014: Arguing the case for Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer

The Ballon d’Or Gala is scheduled for the 12th of January next year at Zurich. With all the votes now having come in to decide the top three of the Ballon d’Or ballot, the race to decide who takes home the trophy has just begun. Will Cristiano Ronaldo having won two Ballon d’Ors and Lionel Messi four, it’ll be interesting to see if the two of them can continue their duopoly over the award, or will Manuel Neuer be able to upstage the two of them and become the first goalkeeper to ever win the Ballon d’Or? Let’s take a sneak peek into the train of thought of the average voter for the award, and see why each of the nominees deserves the award.

#3 Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi receiving his Golden Ball at the FIFA World Cup

Lionel Messi has had one of the most tumultuous years of his career – one steeped in personal excellence on the field, but agonizingly bereft of the trophies that his talents so richly deserve. He fell short in the La Liga and Copa del Rey right at the last hurdle in 2013-14. As if that weren’t enough, he also missed the chance to get his hands on the World Cup trophy, losing to the overall superior German team at the end of extra time.

Messi did, though, walk away with the Guldbollen for the Best Player of the World Cup, emphatically silencing cynics who thought he couldn’t bring his Barcelona form on the international stage with Argentina.

Messi continued to produce moments of magic and pure genius all through 2014, finally recovering from the hamstring injury that had bugged him ever since that ill-fated encounter with Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc de Princes which left him with a pulled hamstring, one that he didn’t make a full recovery from till the turn of the calendar year. Messi finished the season with 20 goals in the latter half of the season in La Liga, pulling him above Diego Costa in the scoring charts.

Messi really came into his own at the FIFA World Cup, scoring four times and creating one more as he almost single-handedly led Argentina’s surprisingly anaemic attack past the stubborn defending of Switzerland and Belgium, converted a crucial penalty in the shootout against Netherlands in the semi-finals and threatened Germany all through the final.

Under Luis Enrique in the new season, Messi has taken up a deeper role, one that he has always preferred as it gives him the space and time that lets him run at defenders and create chances, doing what he does best. In 18 matches, Messi has 17 goals and 9 assists for Barcelona this season, maintaining his status as their biggest creative and attacking threat, even with the emergence of Neymar as a lethal finisher.

#2 Manuel Neuer

Neuer, sweeping up from the back against Algeria in the World Cup quarterfinal

There are a select few players in history who have pioneered and revolutionized a playing position. Johan Cruyff did it for the false 9, Franz Beckenbauer did it for the libero or the attacking sweeper position and more recently, Makalele for the holding midfield position. There can be no doubt that Manuel Neuer belongs to this list, for inventing the position going by the term sweeper-keeper.

Neuer was one of the most important and integral players of the most successful international football team of the year. And that’s saying something, considering he is a goalkeeper. The great thing about him is that he marries the ball-playing and outfield game aspect of goalkeeping with what is perceived as the regular job of the keeper in a uniquely impressive blend.

He comes out on the top in terms of making all the saves that a keeper should, making some that only a few would and even going to make some that none of his fellow keepers would. At 6’4”, he is an intimidating presence in one-on-one situations and penalties. His great anticipatory instincts and footballing brain allow him to smother most one-on-one situations with the minimum of fuss.

What we saw in 2014 might be the blueprint for goalkeepers in the future to follow. Neuer enabled the German and the Bayern defenses to play a high line, safe in the knowledge that they had a player to snuff out the odd ball over the top to a player up-front. The assurance that this gave his sides cannot be overestimated – Neuer showed it best in the game against Algeria in the World Cup, when he intervened on numerous occasions to help out his slow centrebacks when the Algerians played the long ball.

Xabi Alonso opines that Neuer is the best goalkeeper he has ever trained with. Considering that he has trained with the likes of Valdes, Reina, Casillas, De Gea and Dudek among others, it’s a great compliment indeed.

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating his goal in the Champions League final

To quote Carlo Ancelotti, Cristiano Ronaldo is the the runaway favorite for the award. 2014 has been a marquee year of his already well-decorated career, and the crowning glory of his time at Madrid, when he finally broke the Champions League scoring record and led Real Madrid to the long-awaited Decima.

Despite missing a few games due to injury and suspension, Cristiano ended last season with 51 goals in 47 games. The cherry on top for him was scoring the last goal of the Champions League final at the Estadio da Luz in front of thousands of Portuguese people, banishing memories of defeat at the same venue against Greece 10 years ago.

Not only was he crowned UEFA Best Player of The Year for last season, he also bagged La Liga’s Best Player, Best Striker and Best Goal awards for his scintillating efforts last season. It is quite possible that had he not been injured in the final stretches, Real Madrid could’ve secured the requisite form and won the league title too, completing a treble, for he was in outstanding form before he went down to injury.

Injuries niggled him in the time leading up to the World Cup, where he failed to take an injury- and suspension-bugged Portugal out of the Group of Death. They also caused him to miss Real Madrid’s catastrophic defeat at the Anoeta against Real Sociedad, a game where Real Madrid’s shortcomings and problems were badly exposed.

Following his return, however, he has embarked on one of the best scoring sprees of his career, netting in 12 successive matches for Madrid as they are currently on club record-breaking 16-game winning streak, which, at the time of writing, is still intact, and is likely to stretch till the end of the season.

As of now, Ronaldo has 26 goals and 9 assists in just 20 appearances this season for the club, with another goal in the World Cup qualifiers for Portugal. It is likely that he will overtake his goals and assist totals from last season if he stays clear of injury.

Without doubt the single best forward-cum-winger this season and the last, Ronaldo would be dreaming of a Golden Ball to add to his collection next month.