I wish they would just change it to the best player in the world award for each position. Having it so heavily based on honors doesn't make much sense to me, since teams win trophies not individuals. Saying that Jorginho is the 3rd best player in the world above Salah, Bruno KDB is insane. Likewise Sterling at 15th? He's not even the 15th best player at city. He had a decent Euros but has been hot garbage for city for over a year now and was in such bad form that people were expecting him to be dropped for those Euros.
Ballon d'Or 2021 | Lewandowski robbed again
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) look forward to a new life under Ruben Amorim. What system will we be playing? What players will impress? and how will it all go? We also say goodbye to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and review United's 3-0 win at home against Leicester City.
Don’t let the whole Messi winning Ballon d'Or 2021 distract you from the fact that every French footballer/manager/pundit/ex player and Perez and co was gassing up Benzema for months to win the Balon d'Or, just to finish below Jorginho
That was crazy and I don t remember this done for any french player in the past.
Even Ribery who was way more close to winning it.
And Benzema isn’t even the most deserving french player in my opinion this year (Kante).
It died for me in 99 when Keane didn't win it
Fanboys doing fanboys stuff. Seriously, as much as I love Ronaldo I'm looking forward to him and Messi both retiring cause we'll have a rest from Messi-Ronaldo tribalism cause of which grown men act like kids.
It will probably just transition to Mbappé V's Haaland.
What an excellent word!
Its like any other award. Its a PR show and nothing else.
Messi in 2018 :
• Top scorer of the year + Golden Shoe
• league champion
• KO’d in UCL Quarters
• disappointing internationally Finished 5th in Ballon D'Or rankings.
Lewandowski in 2021 :
• Top scorer of the year + Golden Shoe
• league champion
• KO’d in UCL Quarters
• disappointing internationally Finished 2nd in Ballon D'Or rankings.
If Lewandowski got robbed then so did Messi in 2018.
Messi also was clearly better than Modric in 2018 based on their individual play.
The Argentine scored 51 goals and had 26 assists in 2018, and they gave it to Modric.
Messi deserves to have 7 Ballon D’Ors at this point, and Ronaldo fanboys will have to come to terms with their hero never getting to surpass Messi in football’s most prized individual award.
• Top scorer of the year + Golden Shoe
• league champion
• KO’d in UCL Quarters
• disappointing internationally Finished 5th in Ballon D'Or rankings.
Lewandowski in 2021 :
• Top scorer of the year + Golden Shoe
• league champion
• KO’d in UCL Quarters
• disappointing internationally Finished 2nd in Ballon D'Or rankings.
If Lewandowski got robbed then so did Messi in 2018.
Messi also was clearly better than Modric in 2018 based on their individual play.
The Argentine scored 51 goals and had 26 assists in 2018, and they gave it to Modric.
Messi deserves to have 7 Ballon D’Ors at this point, and Ronaldo fanboys will have to come to terms with their hero never getting to surpass Messi in football’s most prized individual award.
Messi: “new idea for a tv show; move to a farmers league”
I dunno, I can't see why being voted the best player in mactches is meaningless. As a sole justification yeah, but I don't think it's a bad metric.
Does that 'FIFPro World XI' award still exist? I hadn't heard anything about it for a while.
I remember that also became a farce when Barcelona or Real Madrid players that hadn't played particularly well kept making it.
Xavi and Iniesta kept making it when they were not that effective overall and well past their best, there was one year when both Marcelo and Modric made it (I think 2015) despite being injured for sizeable portions of it etc.
I remember that also became a farce when Barcelona or Real Madrid players that hadn't played particularly well kept making it.
Xavi and Iniesta kept making it when they were not that effective overall and well past their best, there was one year when both Marcelo and Modric made it (I think 2015) despite being injured for sizeable portions of it etc.
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Ballon d'Or: This reward no longer makes sense. Messi as a winner this year? I would not even place him in top 10. Not even the best player in PSG. Name means more than what is shown on the field.
Messi was absolutely brilliant in his prime in Barca. But only in Barca.
Messi was absolutely brilliant in his prime in Barca. But only in Barca.
The two major competitions in 2018 were the Champions League and the World Cup.
In the Champions League, Messi scored 6 goals. He was behind Ronaldo, Salah, Mane, Firmino, Dzeko, Ben Yedder, Kane, and Cavani. He had 2 assists, which puts him behind 23 other players. His numbers in the top competition were objectively nothing special, and he didn't win or even get close to winning the competition either. In the World Cup, Messi scored 1 goal. He was obviously nowhere near the top goalscorers list. He had two assists, which made him joint top with 16 other players. Argentina only won 1 game and generally sucked.
These are pretty bad tournament performances. fecking up this badly should count for something.
Lewandowski scored 9 goals in 5 CL games; Bayern were eliminated largely because he was unavailable for the QFs. Very different situation.
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I find it hilarious that certain posters (mostly Bayern fans & Polish posters) say Copa shouldn't matter that much, yet believe winning the BL should when you're competing against none other than Messi for this award. problem for Lewa or any other player playing for Bayern is that he has the worst possible narrative behind him by default as winning the league with Bayern means literally nothing. it's basically what will happen with Messi from now on if he doesn't win CL with PSG with him being particularly dominant in knockout stage.
except even PSG can lose the title from time to time, Bayern can't and it's perfectly possible that they'll win 15 or 20 titles in row. last season in a single game Bayern scored 3 goals on 6 occasions, 4 goals on 7 occasions (!!!), 5 goals on 4 occasions and on single occasion they scored 6 and 8 goals. which means, 19 of Lewa's total 29 games are training matches. I still remember Bayern vs Stuttgart (or Gladbach?), when Bayern got red card in 10th minute and simply scored 4 in about 20 minutes like nothing happened. it's like giving Mike Tyson a belt for beating a little girl, that's how bad it is in BL currently.
he can't do with Poland what Modric did with our NT, but in CL Bayern is among the best teams so it's a bare minimum for him, unfortunately. only winning the BL simply isn't enough, at least not when you're competing with Messi.
except even PSG can lose the title from time to time, Bayern can't and it's perfectly possible that they'll win 15 or 20 titles in row. last season in a single game Bayern scored 3 goals on 6 occasions, 4 goals on 7 occasions (!!!), 5 goals on 4 occasions and on single occasion they scored 6 and 8 goals. which means, 19 of Lewa's total 29 games are training matches. I still remember Bayern vs Stuttgart (or Gladbach?), when Bayern got red card in 10th minute and simply scored 4 in about 20 minutes like nothing happened. it's like giving Mike Tyson a belt for beating a little girl, that's how bad it is in BL currently.
he can't do with Poland what Modric did with our NT, but in CL Bayern is among the best teams so it's a bare minimum for him, unfortunately. only winning the BL simply isn't enough, at least not when you're competing with Messi.
Genuinely thought he was holding a cardboard cutout.
La Liga was largely bankrupt due to the financial crisis back when Messi was scoring 40+ goals per season and nobody cared.
This will not happen.
Not if they wont set the heights of those 2.
Ok choice, toss-up between Lewa and Messi if you look at the timeframe. Just pretty poor individually compared to what we are used to for the past decade.
What makes it tough is that Lewandowski got robbed in 2020 for no reason where he was the clear #1.
What makes it tough is that Lewandowski got robbed in 2020 for no reason where he was the clear #1.
It’s a terrible metric, MOTM awards are utterly meaningless.
Lewandowski did his part in the Euros mostly, with 3 goals in 3 games. He has 11 goals in 12 games for Poland in 2021. He has 19 goals in his past 26 over 3 years for Poland. Not sure what else he's to do really on his part if his team aren't good enough. Lewandowski has been very good for Poland.
Not surprised at all.
Looked at the betting Saturday, seems the bookies knew ….Messi was massive odds on favourite to win.
Looked at the betting Saturday, seems the bookies knew ….Messi was massive odds on favourite to win.
That's pretty ironic.
Well I disagree. I guess in this context the occasion matters too, but in general there is a consensus about who is motm. I don't see why it's meaningless, but I agree trying to use it as a main metric might be a bit stupid. A lot of stats can be pointless without context. A guy who gives a pass to a player who scores a screamer gets an assist. Assists are only meaningfull if they are quality.
It's always been a joke. The fifa team of the year in 2008 had one United player in it which was Ronaldo. How can that be right?
Unfortunately when Muller was voting he said "more like Roballon Lewand'orski right?" and it put everyone off voting Robert's way.
Ronaldo deserved 2018. He had more assists and goals than Modric and Messi. He also drove RL to another CL win.
That's 3 Ballon D'ors now that Messi absolutely does not deserve - 2010, 2019, 2021. Ronaldo only arguably didn't deserve the 2013 one.
you mean Messi was not top 10 player in the calendar year of 2021?
Sincere question, no tongue in cheek to the people thinking Lewandowski was robbed:
Do you guys think he is a better player than Messi or that he "deserved the prize more"?
Do you guys think he is a better player than Messi or that he "deserved the prize more"?
Wait, who should have won in 2019?
He's better than Messi now(obviously not in general) and I think it was 50-50 on who deserved it more. Messi's poor PSG start is clouding how good he was to start the year.
VVD.
That's the general consensus. He deserved it more because he scored more goals in a weaker league.
.
Balon Dor should be performance based in which case Messi would have 7 anyway. 2010 and 2019 he was the world's best footballer. 2021 more debatable but not the sham it's made out to be
Nice one.
Balon Dor should be performance based in which case Messi would have 7 anyway. 2010 and 2019 he was the world's best footballer. 2021 more debatable but not the sham it's made out to be
Why exactly?
If Vidic didn't win it in 2009 against an inferior season of Messi(and Vidic's 2008-2009 campaign was just as good as Van Dijk's), why would Van Dijk deserve it over one of Messi's best ever years?
Messi had 51 goals in 50 games and 22 assists and was dragging a barcelona side that was on the decline. Hard to compare a CB though to a forward. Still think Messi completely deserved it. I think VVD said that Messi deserved it as well.
CL obviously even though Liverpool’s defence got battered in one leg and had the team half way out the door (feck off Dembele)
Apparently Messi winning in 2019 is now a sham.
The fact that Van Dijk almost won then was a sham.
I don't like using the worried 'carried' in football, but if ever a player carried a team in a season, Messi did it then. Swap out Van Dijk for another world class CB, Liverpool do not get much worse(if at all). Swap out Messi for any attacker then and Barcelona definitely decline as a team. Even in the Anfield capitulation, he was their best player.
The fact that Van Dijk almost won then was a sham.
I don't like using the worried 'carried' in football, but if ever a player carried a team in a season, Messi did it then. Swap out Van Dijk for another world class CB, Liverpool do not get much worse(if at all). Swap out Messi for any attacker then and Barcelona definitely decline as a team. Even in the Anfield capitulation, he was their best player.
Should the award essentially be whoever is the best/most influential player in the the team that wins the CL?
I like how you just ignored the rest of my post. I understand, you don't like Messi and you support Madrid whatever and tbf Lewy does deserve a Balon dor all I'm saying is it's not a 'robbery' it's close between the 2, people here are making it out to seem it's some crazy 'robbery' and it's not even close when in fact, it is close. Really close.