http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 wins Ballon d’Or
The footballing world received a shock after Lionel Messi was crowned as the Ballon d’Or for the year 2010. The Argentinean was considered the least favourite for the award, but the maestro outdid his own teammates, Xavi Hernandez
and Andres Iniesta and won what is considered the most prestigious individual award in the history of football.
FIFA decided to change its rules this year. Usually, the player of the year and the Ballon d’Or awards are presented to different players. However, this year it was decided that both the awards are to be mixed together and the
“Player of the Year” award is going to be merged with the Ballon d’Or award.
In the year 2007, the Argentinean striker came third as the Brazilian midfielder Kaka won both the prestigious awards and Cristiano Ronaldo came second. In 2008, Lionel Messi came second, right above Xavi Hernandez as the Portuguese
captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 won the Player of the Year and the Ballon d’Or awards. In the year 2010, “Leo” won the award for the first time after helping his side win six trophies under Josep Guardiola.
This year many odd options came in front and various players emerged as contenders. However, FIFA were criticized about their short listing procedure throughout the build up. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Diego-Milito-c11166 was not short listed for the award while
Cristiano Ronaldo was included. Diego Milito was the one who managed to win all three trophies in his reach while playing under Jose Mourinho. The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786, the German
Champions Bayern Munich and the Spanish Champions Barcelona.
Later, the World Cup’s highest goal scorer and the UEFA Champions League winner http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wesley-Sneijder-c36799 was deprived of the top three spots as well. Surprisingly, the three Barcelona stars, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Lionel Messi
were selected. It was very disappointing for the football fans who expected that the Inter Milan midfielder would be winning the Player of the Year award. Later, Xavi Hernandez even accepted the fact that Sneijder should have been short listed; however, no
action was taken by FIFA.
With the ceremony in Zurich coming closer, all the fans were excited and expected that FIFA might give it to Xavi Hernandez – the player who simply had an outstanding season not only with his club but also with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011, as he helped
them win the FIFA World Cup 2010. However, Andres Iniesta looked to be a strong nominee as well as he scored the winning goal of the FIFA World Cup 2010. The Argentinean maestro was out on the Christmas break when the press confronted him and asked him whether
he saw himself winning this award. The Barcelona number 10 simply shrugged the question off by saying that he does not expect himself to win it because his teammates, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez had a better year.
Lionel Messi won the European golden boot award in the year 2010 after scoring 36 goals in only 37 appearances in his league. Also, the maestro did not have a good FIFA World Cup 2010, but he simply enjoyed football at club level.
His performance for the Argentinean team was extraordinary as well; however, he could not find the back of the net even once while playing on South African soil. After the winner was announced and Lionel Messi took the stage, most of the fans simply covered
their faces in horror and in shock as the least favourite nominee won the award.
With Lionel Messi winning the Ballon d’Or 2010, it makes him one of the only few players to have owned it two years in a row. Even though many do not consider him good enough to win the “Player of the Year” award, he still manages
to surpass all the other players during the year 2010 and there is no doubt that he is a great entertainer with the ball at his feet.
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