The countdown to the highly
prestigious and anticipated 2012
Ballon D’or at Kongresshaus, Zurich,
Switzerland, has commenced. 7th
January, 2013 is the day the
International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), awards
the ‘best player of the year’ with the
FIFA Ballon d’Or. Today, we continue the countdown
with reactions from prominent
coaches and figures in world football
on the chances of nominess for the
prestigious award which has Cristiano
Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain) and
Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona) in
contention. On Cristiano Ronaldo: “Portugal have a national team called
Cristiano Ronaldo and a group of
players who run after him.”
Carlos Queiroz “He’s an unbelievable player. We have
a pantheon of great players and
Ronaldo definitely compares with any
of them. Although he had a natural
talent, he is in many ways
manufactured himself – he practised and practised. He had a bit of the Eric
Cantona about him in that way. He
was definitely good value for Madrid.”
Sir Alex Ferguson On Lionel Messi: “Some people do not like Ronaldo
because he is a great player, good-
looking and has s*x with all the ladies.
People get jealous. The only bad thing
about Ronaldo’s life is Messi. If it was
not for him, Ronaldo would have been the best player in the world for five
years in a row now.”
Luiz Felipe Scolari “Like Michael Jordan in basketball,
Messi is dominating his sport. Very
few people in history have managed
to dominate their sport the way
Jordan and Messi have. I feel sorry for
those who want to compete for Messi’s throne – it’s impossible, this
kid is unique. He doesn’t just score
lots of goals, but he scores lots of
great goals, each one being better
that the last.”
Pep Guardiola On Andres Iniesta: “Definitely Andres Iniesta. It’s not
that difficult to play well and win
titles in a team like Barcelona, but it’s
in the national side where you see a
player’s true class. That was the case
with figures like Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane.
WithSpain, Iniesta has shown that he
is among the best players of all time
and that’s why I rate him higher than
Messi or Ronaldo. Even though the
latter two have incredible scoring records for their clubs, they still
haven’t won anything with Argentina
or Portugal respectively.”
Boris Becker on who should win the
FIFA Ballon d’Or “He is the enlightened one, [someone]
touched by a magic wand. He
commands so much respect on the
pitch. As a football lover, I am proud
to have played with him. He makes
the difference and does things that no one else can do.”
Sergio Ramos Do you agree with their views? Have Your Say…