Ballon d'Or 2021 | Lewandowski robbed again

Black Adder said:
Oh sorry, was under impression you were talking how Messi used to get humiliated in Europe, so wanted to point out how Cristiano got as well, by some really small teams.

And we agree that he doesn't deserve Ballon d'Or, it's award for the best in football, something he hasn't been for a long time.
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My issue is Lewandowski, Benzema and Salah are bigger threat than Messi atm. They atleast should have given the last year trophy to Lewandowski. Messi Cr7 at their prime was from another planet, but they are no longer alien.
 
gorky_utd said:
My issue is Lewandowski, Benzema and Salah are bigger threat than Messi atm. They atleast should have given the last year trophy to Lewandowski. Messi Cr7 at their prime was from another planet, but they are no longer alien.
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I would give it to Lewa maybe, but can see why they went with Messi this year (Copa) and looking at those stats it's not undeserved.
 
Eplel said:
The world cup is 8 games. And doing the treble in a top five league is arguably a harder achievement than World Cup.
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Barcelona got 99 points in the league in 2009/10 and Xavi topped the assists table in La Liga, only lost quite unluckily to Inter (offside goal ruled out), then went to a World Cup and they dominated every game from midfield. Then Barca began 2010/11 season winning 20 out of 25 games in all competitions, losing just once in the rest of 2010, which included beating Real Madrid 5-0 in one of the most impressive team performances I've ever seen. My point being Xavi was really good in 2010.
 
What a well deserved not useless at all individual honour in a team sport to the greatest player of all time.
 
gorky_utd said:
Messi has consistently won annual UCL humiliation trophy in recent times. A young messi was a nemesis, simply too good for rest of the teams. But this old, lazy version of messi is not.
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:lol: FFS the Messi anger on Ronniecafe I mean redcafe is something else
 
I think the argument "it's only because it is Messi" is a fair point. However, this is a thing we have to deal with in all aspects of life.

Manchester United earned countless of points (and trophies) in the Sir Alex era just because it is Manchester United due to marginal referee decisions. If you can you make yourself great is just easier to earn to points.
 
Daysleeper said:
moronic take, he had the best Copa in its history. Lewa bottled the group stage in a poor group at the euros.
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Maybe you didn't watch the games nor the final.

The standards of all teams present was deplorable. The final was an abomination and he was dying on his feet.
 
Oh the saltyness :lol:

Messi has been so great for so long that people consider being La liga's pichichi and top assister, Copa America's pichichi, top assister + MVP, most MOTMs all year etc just mediocre achievements. Speaks of his greatness.

Also people saying Sneijder should have won 2010's... need to stop ever giving their opinion on anything football related. Thats my opinion as well feel free to disregard it too :)
 
Harry190 said:
Maybe you didn't watch the games nor the final.

The standards of all teams present was deplorable. The final was an abomination and he was dying on his feet.
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euro 2016 was just as bad. If anything Portugal played it like a Copa team
 
Daysleeper said:
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"Goals outside the box" - why does that matter as a stat? Have never seen that used as a statistic before. That's a very cherry-picked graphic. It makes the goals seem closer than they are by saying "non penalty" as if penalties don't count.

The only argument you can use that Messi deserves it over Lewandowski in my opinion is based on the Copa America. Club-wise Lewandowski was better, prolific scoring, good striker build-up play, all the while contributing to a modern team structure and not being a liability off the ball.
 
MrMarcello said:
Muller was the best player for me. Kroos and Van Persie were also exceptional.

These awards have been a popularity and biggest name/moment in a big international final for many years. In 1998, Thuram was the best player for me, right next to Ronaldo, and while Zidane was suspended for the SF match after a red card, it was Thuram who put France the in the Final. The entire side were magnificent against Brazil but Zidane gets two goals and suddenly he's the world's best player. Ronaldo was still the best player on the planet for the full calendar year but his disappearance in the Final cost him votes. Yet it was Ronaldo not Zidane that took him the golden ball in the tournament.

Four years later Ronaldo got his revenge yet it was Rivaldo that carried Brazil and Kahn was arguably the best player in the world that year. The model has become - show up in the big international competition and one's actual club performances take a seat. Modric exemplified this.
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Zidane played against Croatia, he missed the Paraguay game instead.
Plus he actually had a great season with Juventus that year.

Ronaldo 2002 Balloon D'or was more questionable, considering that he barely even played games for his club that season as he was injured for a long time, they gave him the Balloon solely for winning World Cup, as questionable as Cannavaro Ballon D'or, but it wasn't questioned much cause R9 is one of the best strikers in history.
 
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KeanoMagicHat said:
"Goals outside the box" - why does that matter as a stat? Have never seen that used as a statistic before. That's a very cherry-picked graphic. It makes the goals seem closer than they are by saying "non penalty" as if penalties don't count.

The only argument you can use that Messi deserves it over Lewandowski in my opinion is based on the Copa America. Club-wise Lewandowski was better, prolific scoring, good striker build-up play, all the while contributing to a modern team structure and not being a liability off the ball.
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I don’t really get how things like dribbles completed or goals outside the box are even considered here. But that was quoted by the guy who reckon Lewandowski bottled Euro group stage for Poland so not sure if it’s worth commenting on.

Non-penalties is also funny as it discounts Messi’s poor conversion rate of these.

Points won basically deducts points for playing in a good team. I bet this wasn’t used when assessing Messi’s performance prior to 2016 or so. :lol:
 
It's telling that half of the defenses of Messi's Balon D'Or are people bringing up Ronaldo, who pretty much no one believes should be in contention for this year's Balon D'Or.
 
I understand when people think Lewandowski edges it but those who claim goals scored from outside the box or successful dribbles don't matter have a very, very limited understanding of football.
 
Zehner said:
I understand when people think Lewandowski edges it but those who claim goals scored from outside the box or successful dribbles don't matter have a very, very limited understanding of football.
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Have to feel for Neves and Adama there. Wolves robbed again.
 
Zehner said:
I understand when people think Lewandowski edges it but those who claim goals scored from outside the box or successful dribbles don't matter have a very, very limited understanding of football.
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How many headers did Messi score? How often was he in the box and helped other players with his positioning? How many clearances did he have? Defensive work?

I bet that Messi would not be great in Lewy's job...
 
I just saw a quote apparently from Messi saying that he thinks Lewandowski deserves it right?

That's great if true. Shows how crap Balon'dor has been since Newspapers turned in to websites and websites turned in to smart phones.
 
Lemoor said:
Then why is it always awarded and advertised for the entire year, if by design it completely ignores around a third of the time when highest level football is regularly being played?
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The highest level of football is being played between Feb and Jul where the CL knockouts and international tournaments are played. The people who vote for these awards are more likely to view these games rather than a Bundesliga game between Bayern and Bochum in September where the score is settled before the game even starts
 
The mental gymnastics being pulled by some people here to argue that Messi doesn’t deserve this years award whilst trying to justify that Ronaldo deserves 2018 and sneijder was robbed of 2010 :lol:
 
MalaysianRed7 said:
Have to feel for Neves and Adama there. Wolves robbed again.
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Thanks for proving my point.

Blackwidow said:
How many headers did Messi score? How often was he in the box and helped other players with his positioning? How many clearances did he have? Defensive work?

I bet that Messi would not be great in Lewy's job...
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This has nothing to do with what I wrote.
 
This award is a farce. Lewandowski all the way, although I hate the guy.
 
Bebestation said:
I just saw a quote apparently from Messi saying that he thinks Lewandowski deserves it right?

That's great if true. Shows how crap Balon'dor has been since Newspapers turned in to websites and websites turned in to smart phones.
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He said Lewa deserved it last year.
 
I've always thought that Messi is so good that he should win the award if his teams win something of merit. The Copa and Copa del Rey are enough for me.

I've also thought they should change the name of the award to something like "The Cup Players Award" whatever that would be in French. Regular season stats and accomplishments just aren't rewarded like the CL, Euro and Copa. It should be the other way IMO because the long regular season is when the best are sorted out.

Lastly, they should give the 2020 Ballon D'or belatedly to Lewandowski. He deserved it and it was really stupid to not have the award.
 
I don't get why people downplay Bundesliga and Lewandoski achievements as a player.

I believe Messi is a fair winner this year, but some people act as if you are only a great player if you play in PL or La Liga.
Bayern Munich dominate Bundesliga so much cause they are too good : well managed, well run as a club, hardly making expensive signings, and they always deliver in CL (even when they don't win it).
They are way better run as a club than Barcelona,United, Real Madrid Atletico de Madrid,Liverpool,etc .
Historically, in Champions League Bayern only get outperformed by Real Madrid, AC Milan might have 1 more CL but they were hella inconsistent,
and were always showing the typical italian disorganization and chaos, which is why they have been irrelevant in Europe for more than a decade now.

Serie A is getting overlooked as well, as Cristiano despite scoring a lot for Juventus wasn't close to win Ballon D'or while playing in Italy.

Seems like Balloon D'or it's only for La Liga and PL players now.
 
Utter horse sh*t. The voters will go out of their way to give it to Messi even when he doesn't deserve it, but go out of their way to not give to CR7 when he does. Don't get me wrong. Messi is amazing. But there is no way in hell he deserves it this year. Why did they give it? Because he finally won a Copa? My god, this is a tournament that he has failed at year after year despite being either ranked #1 or #2 going into it. It would be like England not winning a Euro if there was only 1 other really good country. He shouldn't be congratulated for winning a Copa. He should be lauded for taking so long to finally win one...
 
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