Portuguese ace Cristiano http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ronaldo-c31734 was hoping to end the individual dominance of the Argentine wizard, but was left stunned as Messi won his fourth successive award.
Real Madrid’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 midfielder Andres Iniesta were in the running to win the year’s Ballon d’Or award as it was to be announced last night in Zurich.
The three players had made it all the way to the final three of the prestigious list but only one was to be handed over with the prestigious award in Zurich.
Barcelona forward http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 managed to better his two fellow competitors on the occasion as he entered the history books of the Football world with a fourth consecutive title.
The award is French and is widely considered as the highest individual merit that a footballer can achieve in his entire career. Only a few years back, FIFA also acknowledged the global integrity of the award and went forward to jointly name it as the FIFA
Ballon d’Or award.
Former Manchester United player, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629, had also bagged the award on one previous occasion in 2008 as he led his Manchester United team to the Champions League crown while also helping them win the Barclays Premier League title in the same year.
Andres Iniesta was new to the fray as he had never received the individual accolade in past but was seen as a strong contender this time around, following a decent season with Barcelona and a title winning Euro campaign in the summers.
According to the general feeling surrounding the award, Real Madrid’s Ronaldo was seen as the favourite to capture the individual honour as he his tremendous goal-scoring prowess saw Madrid win La Liga title ahead of arch rivals Barcelona and his goals in
the El-Clasico’s saw Real beat Barcelona to the Spanish Super Copa title.
Messi on the other hand had an amazing season and had gone on to score 91 goals in the calendar year, breaking all the previous records en-route. The Barcelona forward’s feats were recognized by the voters as he beat the Portuguese captain to the award.
Messi has become the first player in the history of the game to win the accolade on 4 occasions and amazingly has also done it in succession.
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