Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball)

Who will be the winner of Golden Ball this Year ?

  • Kaka'

    Votes: 27 39.7%
  • Andrea Pirlo

    Votes: 3 4.4%
  • Leo Messi

    Votes: 12 17.6%
  • Zlatan Ibrahimovic

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Francesco Totti

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Ronaldinho

    Votes: 3 4.4%
  • Luca Toni

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Frank Ribery

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Riquelme

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Francesc Fabregas

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Gigi Buffon

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Cristiano Ronaldo

    Votes: 9 13.2%
  • Didier Drogba

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Steven Gerard

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Genaro Gattuso

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Wayne Rooney

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Paul Scholes

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Ruud van Nistelrooy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • David Villa

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Paolo Maldini

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Deco

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Thierry Henry

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Diego

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ricardo Quaresma

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • Clarence Seedorf

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Miroslav Klose

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • Total voters
    68

acerвιc wιт

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And without Gattuso in the form he was in, Pirlo wouldn't have been as influential. That's been proven at Milan as well.

True to an extent, though, with your logic that means that no one should deserve a MOTM award because they couldn't of achieved this feat without their teammates. Which I have no problem with because football is a collective sport. Again which why I hate awards such as the Ballon D'Or.

And Gattuso was brilliant at the World Cup. Definitely the best defensive midfielder, at that time, in the world by a large margin. However, Pirlo is what made Italy tick and played a major part in the decisive moments which lead to a triumph in Berlin.
 

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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;891893 said:
True to an extent, though, with your logic that means that no one should deserve a MOTM award because they couldn't of achieved this feat without their teammates. Which I have no problem with because football is a collective sport. Again which why I hate awards such as the Ballon D'Or.

And Gattuso was brilliant at the World Cup. Definitely the best defensive midfielder, at that time, in the world by a large margin. However, Pirlo is what made Italy tick and played a major part in the decisive moments which lead to a triumph in Berlin.

Well in that case what about Totti? He had 4 assists and a goal to his name compared to 3 and 1 for Pirlo.

And I really don't get how Pirlo was MOTM in the Final? France were the better team. Was it a random picking? I mean here's a part from one of the reviews of the Final:

France were as good in the second half and extra-time as Italy were in the first. The game was played at a painfully slow pace. Toni dived more in 120 minutes than Cristiano Ronaldo has in his last three matches. Pirlo reverted to type i.e. kept giving the ball away, Totti was beyond useless and Cannavaro didn't look anywhere near as assured as he has done in previous matches. Good job Gattuso was off the charts, as he has been all tournament. IMO Malouda was France's best player. Nothing Materazzi said can excuse Zidane's headbutt. Zidane is no stranger to red cards.
 

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And I really don't get how Pirlo was MOTM in the Final? France were the better team. Was it a random picking?

I don't really get how Zidane won the Golden Ball in the 2006 World Cup. France didn't win the World Cup. Was it a random picking?
 

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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;891918 said:
I don't really get how Zidane won the Golden Ball in the 2006 World Cup. France didn't win the World Cup. Was it a random picking?

So you're agreeing that Pirlo's MOM was a joke? Coz I didn't actually defend Zidane's award? Parading the importance of a player based on these bullshit awards makes the argument that much more of a joke IMO.

It's like how Seedorf was Best Midfielder of the UCL in 2007 :rolleyes: I guess whoever voted had their eyes stuck on his freak ass rather than watch the real best MF i.e. Gattuso.
 

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So you're agreeing that Pirlo's MOM was a joke? Coz I didn't actually defend Zidane's award? Parading the importance of a player based on these bullshit awards makes the argument that much more of a joke IMO.
Considering how people like to use statistics around here I decided to throw that one out there. It irritates the Pirlo bashers. ;) I still believe Pirlo was Italy's most influential for the Azzurri with or without any of the MOTM awards. He should've finished with the Silver Ball and Buffon should've received the Bronze. No doubts in my mind. However, Gattuso is very unlucky to miss out because, I repeat, he was at his prime during that tournament. Unbelievable competitor. The Azzurri had chemistry back then. I knew Italy would win the World Cup when we smashed Holland and Germany in friendlies leading up to the tournament. Football is a collective sport so I don't buy into these individual honours. Especially considering Baresi or Maldini never held one.

It's like how Seedorf was Best Midfielder of the UCL in 2007 :rolleyes: I guess whoever voted had their eyes stuck on his freak ass rather than watch the real best MF i.e. Gattuso.
That's UEFA. And at least he was in a winning team!
 

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let's not be silly haterz guys Messi is fantastic. As an overall player he's probably the best. However I think Xavi an Iniesta were better since they both powered Spain to the Euro and World Cups. Messi didn't even score at the World Cup. Personally I'd hate liked to see Sneijder replace Messi for his exploits this year. But then again his 15 minutes of fame seems to be up. All the ppl that said FU GALLIANI are repenting now :cool:
 

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Heh, spaniards are sooo pissed now.

I saw it coming and frankly lost interest after milito was completely dropped. Seemed like a collection of most popular players more than anything.

As long as your popular and your football sells tickets, boosts TV viewership your the winner. No matter if a 37 year old never made you see the ball and was pure garbage in WC. Score dozens of goals in a shit league and congratulations. Not saying messi isnt a top player but IMO both xavi and iniesta deserved it a lot more this year not to mention sneijder.
 

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Mourinho deserved his award.

The team of the year was perfect in my opinion.

As for the Ballon d'Or, it depends on what they look for in a winner. Best player over the twelve months for me is Messi. Sneijder nearly won everything though. Iniesta was eventually the star of the world cup for España and Xavi was probably consistently the best (all competitions).

Messi deserves it for being the best player in 2010. In a way it's good that the award isn't given to a player based on the world cup but some people want to see the biggest achiever awarded so I don't know.

I'm happy for him anyway, just a bit disappointed for Xavi.

Actually no, I'm very disappointed :(

but still, MESSI! :D
 
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LOLZ @ ESPN soccernet ...Shaka Hislop- "Mou didn't deserve to win Coach of the year ...because Inter weren't as stylish as Spain were in the WC "

" Barca play football the way it is meant to be played " :mad: :rolleyes: "Barca and Madrid are the greatest teams in history" ...bla bla bla

....hercules ?....Milan =tied best team in the world :proud: due to our draw :proud:
 

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Paolo Maldini - "In my opinion, Messi should win the Golden Ball each year. He's an unbelievable player."

puyols girl is hotttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
 
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Those that followed La Liga know that it wasnt Xavi or Iniesta(injured) but Messi that carried a sometimes weak and exhaustive Barcelona team last season. It's not about the amount of goals he scores, its the way he does it at the moment he scores them.
I remember the months where the world wide press were findind it hard to find superlatives for him and were comparing him with all time greats (too early offcourse). I remember a difficult match against Valencia (one of the strongest teams; possible to loose points) at home. HT 0:0, Valencia were defensively very well organised and hard to break down, Barca looked flat. In second half, Messi turned on a solo master class to score a hat trick and the 3 points. The way he scored the first...nobody could go through 1 player and suddenly he dribbled 3/4 and scored that goal. Genius. In Midweek he scored a brace againats Stuttgart, OK ..can happen.. a snack. But the next La liga game there was the lowly placed team Zaragoza. This should have been a walk in the park but yet they made life difficult for Barcelona always scoring when Barca scored. And always it was Messi who broke the deadlock with solo runs (and beautiful curling long shot) to score more. In the end he did it again, after he dribbled 3 players he was brought down in the box and he gave the penalty to Ibra, because he "needed" it. Thus...this "weak" team was very competitive against a Barca side in bad form in a match where Ibrahimovic missed alot of easy chances..to a point where the crowd were literally laughing at him. When Messi turned on his skills and solo runs and goals, the whole stadium was smiling and applauding him. The Zaragoza coach said: "we could have beaten Barcelona but not Leo Messi. If we scored 4, messi would score 12. It was like Maradona but at more revs per minute". Some weeks after, he annihilated Arsenal after they went a goal down. And again the praise of the opposite coaches.

This is just an example of how important Messi was ..he carried FCB to a historic 99 points in La Liga to just win over the all spending Madrid (CRonaldo, Kaka etc) with +-96 points (also historic till that date).

Messi was topscorer in Europe (European golden boot) and topscorer of Champions League. He is a great goal scorer like Cronaldo but he is also a scorer of great goals, consistently and a great assister.
Alot of people were dissapointed in Messi for his world cup, yet many football purist still enjoyed his decisive playmaking abilities leading to all (but 1) Argentina goals (still top 10 golden ball world cup).

There was no player like Messi in 2010.

Sneijder might have been very decisive in the treble and the World Cup, people remember the defense and Mourinho that provided the titles for Inter (worldwide, not in Italy) because thats what we saw against Barcelona for example (most people dont follow all matches of all leagues). And its based on that that people also were dissapointed in Messi. The Inter team stopped Messi.
In the world cup, Sneijder's influence might be debateable. His stats are second to none but the voters werent that impressed (fluky goals and ultimate failure).
When looking at prices won and playing a role in it, Sneijder might have gotten it. That is if you want to choose a influential player of an all winning team. But imo Milito was more decisive in terms of goals and their defense players had more merit.

When choosing the best player in the world, and not only by "hype" but by performances, it must be the player of which legends were comparing him to legends, thus Leo Messi.

In the end its all about people having an opionion based on own criteria. In the end it's a democratic vote which is the most fair. Messi won most votes thus deserved.
 
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acerвιc wιт

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The World Cup showed that Xavi and Iniesta were able to function without Messi whilst Messi was unable to function without Xavi and Iniesta.
 

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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;892611 said:
The World Cup showed that Xavi and Iniesta were able to function without Messi whilst Messi was unable to function without Xavi and Iniesta.

Yet Xavi and Iniesta were not that good or injured last year in La liga. Yet Messi had more assists than the rest of them. Yet Messi has more assists this season than Xavi and Iniesta combined. Yet Del Bosque said he was the best player of the world cup. Yet Xavi and Iniesta claim he was the best.
I understand people attacking Messi for not scoring but not for not seeing he didnt play in a forwards role. By lack of midfield he had to start actions and plays from midfield or the back and he was VERY successful at it. Check out the goals of Argentina, it was all Messi. Higuains hat trick? Each goal thanks to Messi.
Ashame people that follow football dont see what Argentina as a team was lacking and just blame Messi.
Allthough friendlies, with a new coach ... did u see what Messi did to Spain, to Brazil lately ?

Dont forget, Xavi didnt have a good world cup at all. He was put under pressure alot by physical opponents. Iniesta was better. Remember, these passing players depend on team mates which move all the time and make diagonal runs in front. They played in a system totally similar to Barcelona and they had the players who could fill that role perfectly. Yet Spain might have won but Spain never looked like Barcelona did it.. They might have missed a Messi.
 
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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;892611 said:
the world cup showed that xavi and iniesta were able to function without messi whilst messi was unable to function without xavi and iniesta.

+100000000000000000
 

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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;892611 said:
The World Cup showed that Xavi and Iniesta were able to function without Messi whilst Messi was unable to function without Xavi and Iniesta.

how??? by not scoring? please im tired of this he flopped at the wc, he didnt flop he was good, yes he didnt score but he pretty much created everything that resulted in a goal for argentina.the thing that fucked up their wc was having maradona as coach.peicked the wrong players, having fucking guiterez who plays rw as a lb.

also didnt argentina beat spain 4-1 after the wc and messi scored and created.

please stop hating and look at what criteria for the award is, its not about who won the most, its about who played football the best, who had moments of individual brilliance and who made the extraordinary just plain ordinary for him.

it was a tight call as the votes show but saying he flopped because he didnt score is just plain stupid and in all fairness it should have been between xavi,snjeider,milito and messi,either one of them deserved it.

and the people who voted are'nt ordinary people, they feel breathe and eat football and they know best about it.

if he wants to win the nest world cup he needs to grow and become an eve better playmaker not just the goal scorer.
 

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how??? by not scoring? please im tired of this he flopped at the wc, he didnt flop he was good, yes he didnt score but he pretty much created everything that resulted in a goal for argentina.the thing that fucked up their wc was having maradona as coach.peicked the wrong players, having fucking guiterez who plays rw as a lb.

also didnt argentina beat spain 4-1 after the wc and messi scored and created.

please stop hating and look at what criteria for the award is, its not about who won the most, its about who played football the best, who had moments of individual brilliance and who made the extraordinary just plain ordinary for him.

it was a tight call as the votes show but saying he flopped because he didnt score is just plain stupid and in all fairness it should have been between xavi,snjeider,milito and messi,either one of them deserved it.

and the people who voted are'nt ordinary people, they feel breathe and eat football and they know best about it.

if he wants to win the nest world cup he needs to grow and become an eve better playmaker not just the goal scorer.

i agree
 

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Yet Xavi and Iniesta were not that good or injured last year in La liga. Yet Messi had more assists than the rest of them. Yet Messi has more assists this season than Xavi and Iniesta combined. Yet Del Bosque said he was the best player of the world cup. Yet Xavi and Iniesta claim he was the best.
I understand people attacking Messi for not scoring but not for not seeing he didnt play in a forwards role. By lack of midfield he had to start actions and plays from midfield or the back and he was VERY successful at it. Check out the goals of Argentina, it was all Messi. Higuains hat trick? Each goal thanks to Messi.
Ashame people that follow football dont see what Argentina as a team was lacking and just blame Messi.
Allthough friendlies, with a new coach ... did u see what Messi did to Spain, to Brazil lately ?

Dont forget, Xavi didnt have a good world cup at all. He was put under pressure alot by physical opponents. Iniesta was better. Remember, these passing players depend on team mates which move all the time and make diagonal runs in front. They played in a system totally similar to Barcelona and they had the players who could fill that role perfectly. Yet Spain might have won but Spain never looked like Barcelona did it.. They might have missed a Messi.

For someone who scored 60 goals in 64 matches last season he couldn't outscore Landon Donovan in the biggest competition in World Football?

It just shows how poor La Liga is.

Sneijder won the treble and scored vital goals which took Netherlands to the Final of the WC. What else do you have to do to win the award?
 

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Yet Xavi and Iniesta were not that good or injured last year in La liga. Yet Messi had more assists than the rest of them. Yet Messi has more assists this season than Xavi and Iniesta combined. Yet Del Bosque said he was the best player of the world cup. Yet Xavi and Iniesta claim he was the best.
I understand people attacking Messi for not scoring but not for not seeing he didnt play in a forwards role. By lack of midfield he had to start actions and plays from midfield or the back and he was VERY successful at it. Check out the goals of Argentina, it was all Messi. Higuains hat trick? Each goal thanks to Messi.
Ashame people that follow football dont see what Argentina as a team was lacking and just blame Messi.
Allthough friendlies, with a new coach ... did u see what Messi did to Spain, to Brazil lately ?

Dont forget, Xavi didnt have a good world cup at all. He was put under pressure alot by physical opponents. Iniesta was better. Remember, these passing players depend on team mates which move all the time and make diagonal runs in front. They played in a system totally similar to Barcelona and they had the players who could fill that role perfectly. Yet Spain might have won but Spain never looked like Barcelona did it.. They might have missed a Messi.

Since when did La Liga solemnly become the criteria for deciding who wins this award?

Without Xavi Barcelona are no where near what they with him in the line up. Xavi makes the side tick.
 

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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;892633 said:
For someone who scored 60 goals in 64 matches last season he couldn't outscore Landon Donovan in the biggest competition in World Football?

It just shows how poor La Liga is.

Sneijder won the treble and scored vital goals which took Netherlands to the Final of the WC. What else do you have to do to win the award?

Ow let's play that game: Sneijder was lucky, showed no skill whatsoever and was surprised he scored the goals he scored.
No player had an impact like Messi. He was only involved in every Argentina goal (but 1)? If you dont understand that you didnt watch La Liga (oh u mean best league in the world atm , officially with the best players in the world, officially) and if u cant identify messi as a playmaker at the world cup, i pity you.
Oh, words just out: Figo, advisor of INTER, just said: Messi deserved it. Oops

Sneijder vital for Inter? not more than Milito was, the whole defensive line was, Mourinho was. No player stood out in Inter nor Holland nor Spain. There was one player which did stand out, Messi.
 
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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;892635 said:
Since when did La Liga solemnly become the criteria for deciding who wins this award?

Without Xavi Barcelona are no where near what they with him in the line up. Xavi makes the side tick.

lmao, Xavi was injured/playing with injury last season and Barcelona looked very bad in alot of matches. You are just a follower who recently heard the appreciation for Xavi, THE playmaker. This is true but more a sentimental token of appreciation after all the years. I have seen Barcelona play without Xavi and doing it successfully and unsuccessfully, the same for the absence of Messi. In most of the matches FCB had to break down a bus, and Messi provided that. Xavi was noway near Messi last season. Brilliant player, not as decisive.
 

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haha some people.

Messi is clearly a deserving winner. Xavi would have been too but Messi was again the best player in the world in 2010. Best player wins Ballon d'Or. Shock.

and i think someone said something about the league being poor defensively? well if so, how can you honestly think messi wouldn't score all around him in italy? Messi and CR (for example) would score for fun. It's 2011. Superior defending in Italy is a thing of the past, the league is very weak.
 
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мιℓαηєℓℓσ;892633 said:
For someone who scored 60 goals in 64 matches last season he couldn't outscore Landon Donovan in the biggest competition in World Football?

It just shows how poor La Liga is.

Sneijder won the treble and scored vital goals which took Netherlands to the Final of the WC. What else do you have to do to win the award?

maybe he couldn't outscore Donovan in the world cup because Donovan played as a striker and Messi played in midfield as a playmaker, in which he did a good job in by being hugely involved (not assists) in more than 60% of Argentinas goals in the world cup.

and you do realize that those 60 goals he scored last year weren't only in La Liga right? he was last years top scorer in the champions league and he is the top scorer this year in the champions league, just shows you how poor champions league is according to your logic. the Fifa Ballon d'ore is given to the best player in the world not to the one who achieved the most (although that could be a decisive factor) and Messi IS the best in the world, get over it.
 

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maybe he couldn't outscore Donovan in the world cup because Donovan played as a striker and Messi played in midfield as a playmaker, in which he did a good job in by being hugely involved (not assists) in more than 60% of Argentinas goals in the world cup.

and you do realize that those 60 goals he scored last year weren't only in La Liga right? he was last years top scorer in the champions league and he is the top scorer this year in the champions league, just shows you how poor champions league is according to your logic. the Fifa Ballon d'ore is given to the best player in the world not to the one who achieved the most (although that could be a decisive factor) and Messi IS the best in the world, get over it.

except Landon was RM in a 4-4-2.....
 

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Good article:
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6011420/messi-xavi-iniesta-break-mold-footballers

There's a video on the page too worth watching (Studio analysis)

BARCELONA -- A couple of weeks before Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi stood on the Ballon d'Or podium on Monday as the first finalists in the 56-year history of the award to come out of the same youth system, there was a security alert in the La Masia academy where they were trained.

Raynald Denoueix is the French football coach who marched Real Sociedad, starring Xabi Alonso, Nihat and Darko Kovacevic, all the way to the brink of winning La Liga in 2002-03 before being beat out for the top spot by a magnificent Real Madrid side managed by the wonderful Vicente del Bosque.

So even though Denoueix is now a media analyst, he was welcomed to La Masia, next door to Barcelona's iconic Camp Nou stadium and to the youth development section of its Ciudad Deportiva training ground, by Barca head of development Guillermo Amor.

Everything was going swimmingly until Denoueix broke an unwritten rule and alarms went off. "What is the secret of how to train your players to pass and move so well, to press the ball so intelligently and to be so aware of where they should be on the pitch when the ball is lost?" asked the Frenchman.

The atmosphere chilled. "That's like asking Coca-Cola to share their recipe," replied Amor with a very faint half-smile to remove some of the sting.

"Well, would it be OK for me to watch training and draw my own conclusions?" Denoueix added, amiably enough.

"You can have the first 15 minutes just like all the other media," said Amor, who played the fourth-most senior matches for Barca, at fullback, and won more trophies (17) than anyone else at the club.

End of discussion.

And so the mythological status of La Masia grows. But that mythology can be deceiving.

When Iniesta and Xavi lost the vote on Monday, they both spent the next 24 hours repeating two things: Messi is by far the best player in the world, and the overall feeling is that Barca's philosophy has been rightfully rewarded by this award.

Fair enough. La Masia might help hone the skills of Barca's young footballers, but it can't create exceptional talents such as Messi, Xavi and Iniesta unless the brilliance already exists.

The key reason that FC Barcelona won gold, silver and bronze in this first award to amalgamate the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon d'Or is that Messi, Xavi and Iniesta break the mold as footballers.

Teammate Gerard Pique tweeted on Tuesday night, "With respect, I think that Messi is already the greatest footballer ever."

Xavi has been world champion with Spain at the youth and senior level. He's also European champion at both the club and international level, and he was an integral part of Barcelona's all-conquering 2009 campaign. He also leads the club's all-time appearances list with 550.

Iniesta has also received more than a few plaudits. One classic example: After Manchester United lost to Barcelona in the Champions League final in 2009, Wayne Rooney proclaimed to his teammates that Iniesta was "the best player in the world." A year later, of course, the Spaniard scored the winning goal to give Spain its first-ever World Cup trophy.

Exceptional players, all three of them.

La Masia molded them, sure, but Amor's attitude that it's the equivalent to the "secret of Coca Cola's recipe" just indicates how we all like to look beyond the facts and create mythology. Messi is the best example. When he arrived at La Masia just over 10 years ago, nobody, except coach Charly Rexach, put faith in his genius.


"There were a number of coaches in the youth development system at Barca who tried to change me, but I just ignored them," Messi said.
When I asked Messi about how he developed his preternatural skills, this was his answer: "I've always played this way. I do what is instinctive. I rarely plan in advance and I never study opposition players. There were a number of coaches in the youth development system at Barca who tried to change me, but I just ignored them and kept playing my game."

This fabled La Masia system was, for all intents and purposes, put in place by Johan Cruyff. Upon his arrival as coach in 1988, Cruyff was horrified that all the age levels at FC Barcelona were trained differently and played different formations dependent on which kind of man was in charge of their development. So the Dutchman imposed a few rules which abide to this day. One, all age levels must be trained to control the ball, have the vision to know where they will put the ball with one touch when they get it, and have the ability to pass well and to play in a 4-3-3 system. Two, the system had to train them to adore the ball -- to treat it like a cherished lover. Three, that FC Barcelona players needed to hunger for victory, but to achieve it with flair.

Yet not only is Cruyff no longer involved in La Masia, he is barely welcome at the club these days as he doesn't get along with new president Sandro Rosell. From creator to outcast.

The La Masia is also the same system that failed to promote Cesc Fabregas or Gerard Pique quickly enough through the ranks, to the extent that both of them left, Pique for Manchester United and Fabregas for Arsenal. Pique was brought back in 2008 and is now a footballing colossus. Fabregas is a magnificent midfielder and leader, but he remains -- for now -- just agonizingly out of the reach of Barcelona for reasons of price and, perhaps, the player's loyalty to Arsenal.

So make sure that one thing is not ignored when conversations spring up about the love affair the world is having with FC Barcelona right now and La Masia is described as a kind of Camelot fantasy where all the knights wear shining armor, goodness and virtue flow like milk, and all the battles are won. It ain't so.

The truth is that Barcelona has a golden generation of utterly exceptional footballers. La Masia helps complement their talents, but it's not responsible for them. No academy can "create" Messi, possibly the most skilled footballer ever.
 
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Madridista

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These superlatives about Messi are getting more exaggerated by the day. I know Pique is an idiot, but a professional journalist from ESPN declaring Messi the most skillful player ever? wtf??? Collective memory really appears to last not more than a couple of years.
 

Quatre Barres

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Senatore_M84

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It's very easy to ignore the influence of the system. I understand the point of the article but it's written without enough knowledge on the subject. More a personal opinion.




How old are you? I'm guessing you're quite young.

I think the article has a great point, but is poorly written edited. He didn't complete his point.

You need to look no further than sheer number of top quality players la maisa has produced to know it's best youth system in world. Players like Pedro, Busquets etc. But the point is players like Messi, Xavi are just generational stars. A youth system is not going to produce players on that level ever year....

I'd agree with that. A top class youth system will always produce good players and develop them to their fullest. But not everyone's fullest potential is the hieght of Xavi or Messi.
 

JohnnyWunderboy

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These superlatives about Messi are getting more exaggerated by the day. I know Pique is an idiot, but a professional journalist from ESPN declaring Messi the most skillful player ever? wtf??? Collective memory really appears to last not more than a couple of years.

I like you and other Madrid fans because you're automatically immune to the Messi and Barca hype.
 

Quatre Barres

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Okay, I see what you mean now. The youth system has a great influence on the players but it is true that it won't always produce people like Messi, Xavi all the time. I agree with that.

But for example, I don't believe it's a simple coincidence that Messi, Piqué and Fàbregas (of the same year) have become such good players. The work that has been done after Cruijff's time as manager is amazing.

People close to the club believe that Thiago and Gerard Deulofeu will be the biggest success stories in the next 5 years. Deulofeu is from Catalunya, he has been great for the youth teams of España. His style may be more direct than the typical youth player of Barça though, some even compared him to Cristiano Ronaldo. He has recently been linked with Real Madrid sadly, don't know what will happen.
 
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