Uefa has announced a list of the 32 players who are in contention for their award for the best player of Europe.

La Liga champions Real Madrid are the most represented club on the list, with seven players, followed by Premier League holders Manchester City, who boast six players.

Champions League winners Chelsea and Catalan giants Barcelona boast four players each, while Radamel Falcao is the sole player from Europa League champions Atletico Madrid to make the cut.

The players were chosen by a a jury of journalists from each of Uefa's 53 member associations. The governing body for European football will reveal on August 14 the names of the three players who were given the most points by the writers, who will then proceed to the live vote to choose the overall winner in Monaco.

Barca's Lionel Messi was the winner of the first edition of the award, beating team-mate Xavi and Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo to the honour.

Raul and Didier Drogba have left Europe since their exploits last season for Al Sadd and Shanghai Shenhua respectively, while Shinji Kagawa's form for Borussia Dortmund earned him a summer move to Manchester United.

One surprising nomination is 27-year-old Bangor City winger Les Davies, who has been voted the club's player of the season for two consecutive seasons.

Player Club Player Club
Sergio Aguero Manchester City Xabi Alonso Real Madrid
Mario Balotelli Manchester City Jakub Blaszczykowski Borussia Dortmund
Gianluigi Buffon Juventus Iker Casillas Real Madrid
Petr Cech Chelsea Fabio Coentrao Real Madrid
Leslie Davies Bangor City Didier Drogba Chelsea
Cesc Fabregas Barcelona Radamel Falcao Atletico Madrid
Joe Hart Manchester City Zlatan Ibrahimovic AC Milan
Andres Iniesta Barcelona Shinji Kagawa Borussia Dortmund
Vincent Kompany Manchester City Frank Lampard Chelsea
Lionel Messi Barcelona Luka Modric Tottenham
Mesut Ozil Real Madrid Pepe Real Madrid
Andrea Pirlo Juventus Sergio Ramos Real Madrid
Raul Schalke
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
Wayne Rooney Manchester United David Silva Manchester City
Fernando Torres Chelsea Yaya Toure Manchester City
Robin van Persie Arsenal Xavi Barcelona

abeg, make them give this thing to Drogba. he worked for it and he worth it. God bless

kai! uefa sef! wetin dem de shortlist sef? this ought to be a one man shortlist. it's a no-brainer. if one man can;
-win the european golden shoe with a record 50 goals.
-score 73 record goals in a season.
-accumulate 30 assists.
-score a record 14 goals in a single champions league season.
-score a record 5 goals in a single match.
-score a record 8 hattricks in one season.
-win 4 trophies with club.
what are they even shortlisting?

how many major trophies did the person in question win?

in yoruba language --- "ife oba"

1025: how many major trophies did the person in question win?

and what do you mean by MAJOR? his 73 goals gave barca 4 trophies. and by the way it is an award for 'best player in europe' and not 'best team in europe'. PS. the club world cup is not a major trophy? the spanish FA cup is not a major trophy? then define 'a major trophy'

TORRES!?

and what do you mean by MAJOR? his 73 goals gave barca 4 trophies. and by the way it is an award for 'best player in europe' and not 'best team in europe'. PS. the club world cup is not a major trophy? the spanish FA cup is not a major trophy? then define 'a major trophy'

@ddippest,
we are not talking about the highest goal scorer? to score 500 goals in match is a record but the best players are those who help their teams win better things.
in spain, anybody in madrid and barca can score 80 goals against the other weaker teams.the other times messi was winning the award, we saw barca win champions league, la liga and other major trophies.
by major trophy, i mean la liga, champions league, spanish fa cup so u better stop pretending. even if barca end up the next season without a single trophy both minor and major, messi will still be the best player to uefa and many others.
messi scores 900 goals yet in the two legs against chelsea, he refused to score even with a spot kick.
let uefa make room for the players who score the highest number of goals in a season. barca no do well this last season and pep will explain that to u.

1025:

@ddippest,
we are not talking about the highest goal scorer? to score 500 goals in match is a record but the best players are those who help their teams win better things.
in spain, anybody in madrid and barca can score 80 goals against the other weaker teams.the other times messi was winning the award, we saw barca win champions league, la liga and other major trophies.
by major trophy, i mean la liga, champions league, spanish fa cup so u better stop pretending. even if barca end up the next season without a single trophy both minor and major, messi will still be the best player to uefa and many others.
messi scores 900 goals yet in the two legs against chelsea, he refused to score even with a spot kick.
let uefa make room for the players who score the highest number of goals in a season. barca no do well this last season and pep will explain that to u.

i still do not understand you brother. messi basically won the spanish fa cup, the club world cup, the super cups for barcelona. remove messi's la liga goals and barca would have finished 8th position in la liga, missing out in europe entirely next season. dont get it twisted mate, messi was the best individual player and he helped his team to 4 trophies and an automatic champions league spot. he has also put argentina at the top of the south america qualifying series. messi just had the best individual season from any player in the history of football. stop hating, give the man some credit. pleeeaase.

i still do not understand you brother. messi basically won the spanish fa cup, the club world cup, the super cups for barcelona. remove messi's la liga goals and barca would have finished 8th position in la liga, missing out in europe entirely next season. dont get it twisted mate, messi was the best individual player and he helped his team to 4 trophies and an automatic champions league spot. he has also put argentina at the top of the south america qualifying series. messi just had the best individual season from any player in the history of football. stop hating, give the man some credit. pleeeaase.

@ddippest,
i am not hating. when snedjer won the champions league with inter, he also won everything trophy in italy. he did not stop there rather he took holland to the world cup finals. messi still went ahead to win the ballon d'or. why is the laws and reasons always different each season. messi is a genuis we all know but everyday no be christmas.

1025:

@ddippest,
i am not hating. when snedjer won the champions league with inter, he also won everything trophy in italy. he did not stop there rather he took holland to the world cup finals. messi still went ahead to win the ballon d'or. why is the laws and reasons always different each season. messi is a genuis we all know but everyday no be christmas.

sneider did all that i agree, but the pundits in world football still decided messi was the best and he won by voting and not by appointment. So my question to you is this; what makes you think you're qualified to say that those that voted messi were wrong to give him their votes? Football is for everybody not for you. Just the way u are so convinced it should have been sneider, more people were convinced it was messi and so majority voted him.

sneider did all that i agree, but the pundits in world football still decided messi was the best and he won by voting and not by appointment. So my question to you is this; what makes you think you're qualified to say that those that voted messi were wrong to give him their votes? Football is for everybody not for you. Just the way u are so convinced it should have been sneider, more people were convinced it was messi and so majority voted him.

@ddippset,
exactly my point. is not about majority uncle rather it is about those who vote. in the same 2010, iniesta and xavi were the first and second runners up. if sneijder did not merit first, are u saying the majority did not see anything to qualify him among the first 3? iniesta on his own said sniedjer merited a place in the first 3. in 2002, eto was crowned the african best against the expectations of many that okocha was the right man. canavaro the italian defender was made the best player in 2006 abi 2007 but many complained. havalang the former fifa president is facing corruption charges now over issues of many years ago and these are some of the things bad about football.
one time, we were told that messi helped barca to win everything so he merited the ballon dór and some other times a players helps his own club do same but was denied.
u mentioned messi going to win because of 4 trophies and i reffered u to someone who won more than 4 and took his country to the world cup finals and was denied now you brought up the issue of voting.
we are nigerians and we vote and we know that here most results are known before the vote propare.
uefa as an organised body is supposed to come up with terms and conditions for winning this ballon d 'or apaart from using compromised officials.
the man that uefa used to make a mess of chelsea vs barca in 2009 is part of a body that decides who win things abi?
platini made his mind open from the beginning of last season that he wanted a barca-madrid champions league finals. what if it was a case of voting? will chelsea be voted 10th?

1025:

@ddippset,
exactly my point. is not about majority uncle rather it is about those who vote. in the same 2010, iniesta and xavi were the first and second runners up. if sneijder did not merit first, are u saying the majority did not see anything to qualify him among the first 3? iniesta on his own said sniedjer merited a place in the first 3. in 2002, eto was crowned the african best against the expectations of many that okocha was the right man. canavaro the italian defender was made the best player in 2006 abi 2007 but many complained. havalang the former fifa president is facing corruption charges now over issues of many years ago and these are some of the things bad about football.
one time, we were told that messi helped barca to win everything so he merited the ballon dór and some other times a players helps his own club do same but was denied.
u mentioned messi going to win because of 4 trophies and i reffered u to someone who won more than 4 and took his country to the world cup finals and was denied now you brought up the issue of voting.
we are nigerians and we vote and we know that here most results are known before the vote propare.
uefa as an organised body is supposed to come up with terms and conditions for winning this ballon d 'or apaart from using compromised officials.
the man that uefa used to make a mess of chelsea vs barca in 2009 is part of a body that decides who win things abi?
platini made his mind open from the beginning of last season that he wanted a barca-madrid champions league finals. what if it was a case of voting? will chelsea be voted 10th?

There is a big difference btw best team and best individual player. Try to understand this difference

harryobas:

There is a big difference btw best team and best individual player. Try to understand this difference

am sorry if am sounding funny but am ready to learn. i will like to know the following;
1. what are those things a player will do for him to be named the best player?
2. can small teams like wigan, wolves, bolton or can small footballing nations like ethiopia, liberia, togo etc produce the best player?
3. do u have cases where best players come out of poor teams?
4. what are the components of best teams?
5. are there times u as a person have contrary opinion with the choice of best player? if yes why?

if i get answers to the above questions, it will help my understanding the more. thanks.

1025:

@ddippset,
exactly my point. is not about majority uncle rather it is about those who vote. in the same 2010, iniesta and xavi were the first and second runners up. if sneijder did not merit first, are u saying the majority did not see anything to qualify him among the first 3? iniesta on his own said sniedjer merited a place in the first 3. in 2002, eto was crowned the african best against the expectations of many that okocha was the right man. canavaro the italian defender was made the best player in 2006 abi 2007 but many complained. havalang the former fifa president is facing corruption charges now over issues of many years ago and these are some of the things bad about football.
one time, we were told that messi helped barca to win everything so he merited the ballon dór and some other times a players helps his own club do same but was denied.
u mentioned messi going to win because of 4 trophies and i reffered u to someone who won more than 4 and took his country to the world cup finals and was denied now you brought up the issue of voting.
we are nigerians and we vote and we know that here most results are known before the vote propare.
uefa as an organised body is supposed to come up with terms and conditions for winning this ballon d 'or apaart from using compromised officials.
the man that uefa used to make a mess of chelsea vs barca in 2009 is part of a body that decides who win things abi?
platini made his mind open from the beginning of last season that he wanted a barca-madrid champions league finals. what if it was a case of voting? will chelsea be voted 10th?

1025:

@ddippset,
exactly my point. is not about majority uncle rather it is about those who vote. in the same 2010, iniesta and xavi were the first and second runners up. if sneijder did not merit first, are u saying the majority did not see anything to qualify him among the first 3? iniesta on his own said sniedjer merited a place in the first 3. in 2002, eto was crowned the african best against the expectations of many that okocha was the right man. canavaro the italian defender was made the best player in 2006 abi 2007 but many complained. havalang the former fifa president is facing corruption charges now over issues of many years ago and these are some of the things bad about football.
one time, we were told that messi helped barca to win everything so he merited the ballon dór and some other times a players helps his own club do same but was denied.
u mentioned messi going to win because of 4 trophies and i reffered u to someone who won more than 4 and took his country to the world cup finals and was denied now you brought up the issue of voting.
we are nigerians and we vote and we know that here most results are known before the vote propare.
uefa as an organised body is supposed to come up with terms and conditions for winning this ballon d 'or apaart from using compromised officials.
the man that uefa used to make a mess of chelsea vs barca in 2009 is part of a body that decides who win things abi?
platini made his mind open from the beginning of last season that he wanted a barca-madrid champions league finals. what if it was a case of voting? will chelsea be voted 10th?

.ok ok ok, oya now tell us how ballon dor should be awarded. Should sepp blater or platini handpick the winner or maybe 9 billion people on planet earth should vote? Or better still they should include you in the committee of captains, coaches and press men to cast your votes. Pls suggest. Ps- that man that uefa used against chelsea in 09 gave abidal a false red card in the 65th minute and made barca play with 10 men for 28 mins even with a goal down. And that was the first major controversy in that match! So much for conspiracy theories!

1025:

am sorry if am sounding funny but am ready to learn. i will like to know the following;
1. what are those things a player will do for him to be named the best player?
2. can small teams like wigan, wolves, bolton or can small footballing nations like ethiopia, liberia, togo etc produce the best player?
3. do u have cases where best players come out of poor teams?
4. what are the components of best teams?
5. are there times u as a person have contrary opinion with the choice of best player? if yes why?

if i get answers to the above questions, it will help my understanding the more. thanks.

lemme answer you. Question 1-to win the award as a player, just play well and win the votes of the over 200 national team captains and coaches, and journalists as well. Question 2-if you say can they? No they cannot but if you say could they win? Yes they could. Question 3-there are so many players out there that could be better messi if only they had. Big opportunities to play for the barcas, the madrids, the milans, the man us, of this world. Such players play for teams like west brom, levante, eyimba and so on. Question 4-best teams have expensive world class players making themselves better. Question 5-of course a lot of times we have contrary oppinions. Lionel messi is the best player in the world today its not becos everybody voted for him but becos majority voted for him. Believe you me if there was a vote between Jesus and devil today, the devil will get some votes.

ddippset: .ok ok ok, oya now tell us how ballon dor should be awarded. Should sepp blater or platini handpick the winner or maybe 9 billion people on planet earth should vote? Or better still they should include you in the committee of captains, coaches and press men to cast your votes. Pls suggest. Ps- that man that uefa used against chelsea in 09 gave abidal a false red card in the 65th minute and made barca play with 10 men for 28 mins even with a goal down. And that was the first major controversy in that match! So much for conspiracy theories!

uncle, i asked a few questions above and from ur reaction, u have no answers. well, it is not in my place to choose who wins the award but am saying, every year, we get different reasons for winning. it is not all about messi. i am talking about the arrangements. what do players do to win these awards. if am not mistaken, u did mention somewhere that messi won 4 trophies and put argentina where they are. then what if a player wins 6 trophies and then take his country to a level better than argentina. country-wise, argentina is not the number 1 in fifa ranking and trophy-wise, some won more important trophies. what messi did to win that award some two seasons ago has been done by other players so why are they not winning?
there quality players in lower clubs and nobody notices them until they play in big clubs where u win things and that is why it is impo if not impossible for players in wigan like victor moses to win ballon dór.
uncle, there is a player, his name is Juan Mata, if u decorate him with medals he won in the last 4 yrs, u will see things that messi is yet to win at national levels. do u know that Juan Mata won the champions league which messi could not go beyond semi finals. i don't want to talk about the juju we call Drogba who went ahead to score while the likes of messi were too afraid to put the ball inside the net at standford bridge.
pls, do not understand me, if this ballon d ór a political office that is determine by votes or an award based on output.
how can u tell me that three players in one team are the three best in the world yet they refused to win champions league and la liga? na lie brother.
messi was in sa2010 and we know the story of argentina and messi himself in that tournament. in 2010, uefa had no explanations their f-u-k up.

1025:

uncle, i asked a few questions above and from ur reaction, u have no answers. well, it is not in my place to choose who wins the award but am saying, every year, we get different reasons for winning. it is not all about messi. i am talking about the arrangements. what do players do to win these awards. if am not mistaken, u did mention somewhere that messi won 4 trophies and put argentina where they are. then what if a player wins 6 trophies and then take his country to a level better than argentina. country-wise, argentina is not the number 1 in fifa ranking and trophy-wise, some won more important trophies. what messi did to win that award some two seasons ago has been done by other players so why are they not winning?
there quality players in lower clubs and nobody notices them until they play in big clubs where u win things and that is why it is impo if not impossible for players in wigan like victor moses to win ballon dór.
uncle, there is a player, his name is Juan Mata, if u decorate him with medals he won in the last 4 yrs, u will see things that messi is yet to win at national levels. do u know that Juan Mata won the champions league which messi could not go beyond semi finals. i don't want to talk about the juju we call Drogba who went ahead to score while the likes of messi were too afraid to put the ball inside the net at standford bridge.
pls, do not understand me, if this ballon d ór a political office that is determine by votes or an award based on output.
how can u tell me that three players in one team are the three best in the world yet they refused to win champions league and la liga? na lie brother.
messi was in sa2010 and we know the story of argentina and messi himself in that tournament. in 2010, uefa had no explanations their f-u-k up.

man what else could I say? There are no hard and fast rules to winning the ballon dor. Over 400 guys from different countries cast votes and the winner takes it all. And then the results posted on the internet fir the sake of doubters like you. For goodness sake you 1025 are not the wisest man on planet earth. Different people have different oppinions which are harmonised only by voting. if you get convinced for instance that sneider is the best but 4 other people think its messi , what do you do? Tell them how their judgement stinks and how yours is good?I won't be able to convince you if you begin to bring up petty petty details like mata this,drogba that, argentina this! Sorry if you think messi did not deserve 3 ballon dors and prolly a 4th but you are in the minority.

ddippset: man what else could I say? There are no hard and fast rules to winning the ballon dor. Over 400 guys from different countries cast votes and the winner takes it all. And then the results posted on the internet fir the sake of doubters like you. For goodness sake you 1025 are not the wisest man on planet earth. Different people have different oppinions which are harmonised only by voting. if you get convinced for instance that sneider is the best but 4 other people think its messi , what do you do? Tell them how their judgement stinks and how yours is good?I won't be able to convince you if you begin to bring up petty petty details like mata this,drogba that, argentina this! Sorry if you think messi did not deserve 3 ballon dors and prolly a 4th but you are in the minority.

we are not in a war front my brother. arguments/debates are won on points and not on rants. i like to always buttress my points with illustrations that are based on facts and figures. i am only saying my mind and even when my mind is the mind/opinion of one man, it does make me wise or foolish man. the mistake u made was saying that messi won 4 trophies and brought argentina to a height which made me to link u up to a guy that is not from my kindred or village that won more than 4 trophies and even took his country to height greater than argentina yet he did not win.
sometime ago, somebody said messi won champions league but what about now that he did not win? meanwhile brother, are u in any way telling us the result of the election before it is conducted. let me tell u, the mind of the majority is not always the mind of God rather they are the mind of men.
it is difficult to deal with your type because u don't answer questions. i asked 5 simple questions which u refused to answer even one.
now i want to ask you again, if champions league is won by votes, WILL MY CHELSEA COME CLOSE TO NO 10 LAST SEASON when chelsea finished 5th in epl?
if only u can drop your sentiments for 1 minute, boxing for instance are won by knock out or points. tennis are won by points. in soccer, winner take home the trophy, golden boots are won by highest goal scorers, point out what prompt the selections of these 32 and the further trimming to 3 then the terms for the voting.
finally, have you ever been disappointed by the selection of best player for once be it in a tournament, nigeria, africa, europe or world?
if u think u are good for any thread, answer questions and ask questions as that is what i do when i get involved with any thread, TRY ME.

1025:

we are not in a war front my brother. arguments/debates are won on points and not on rants. i like to always buttress my points with illustrations that are based on facts and figures. i am only saying my mind and even when my mind is the mind/opinion of one man, it does make me wise or foolish man. the mistake u made was saying that messi won 4 trophies and brought argentina to a height which made me to link u up to a guy that is not from my kindred or village that won more than 4 trophies and even took his country to height greater than argentina yet he did not win.
sometime ago, somebody said messi won champions league but what about now that he did not win? meanwhile brother, are u in any way telling us the result of the election before it is conducted. let me tell u, the mind of the majority is not always the mind of God rather they are the mind of men.
it is difficult to deal with your type because u don't answer questions. i asked 5 simple questions which u refused to answer even one.
now i want to ask you again, if champions league is won by votes, WILL MY CHELSEA COME CLOSE TO NO 10 LAST SEASON when chelsea finished 5th in epl?
if only u can drop your sentiments for 1 minute, boxing for instance are won by knock out or points. tennis are won by points. in soccer, winner take home the trophy, golden boots are won by highest goal scorers, point out what prompt the selections of these 32 and the further trimming to 3 then the terms for the voting.
finally, have you ever been disappointed by the selection of best player for once be it in a tournament, nigeria, africa, europe or world?
if u think u are good for any thread, answer questions and ask questions as that is what i do when i get involved with any thread, TRY ME.

I don't even know why iam still here really, I insist messi just scored 73 goals and won 4 trophies with barca, and I insist messi. Was argentina's best player and one of the best players in the world cup 2006. As for your 5 questions, even though I didn't see the essence I still answered, go tru the thread again and see my full response.I think u are derailing from the argument. Even if chelsea won the champs league they still aint the best taem in europe. That remains the stand out thing about messi, even when he doesn't score goals or win trophies its still very easy to watch him and call him the best.just watching the ball at his feet makes you call him the greatest. I could quote so many world legends who have called him the greatset since 08 even calling him the best ever. Just today kobe bryant and lebron james called him the best and prolly the best ever.iam not at war with you or getting personal but I don't understand why people keep faulting a voting process. It should be sneider, it should be that and that. I mean who knows best. Just let the guys vote.

1025, Just trynna make you see that the best option is what is being used to award the ballon dor. Or would you rather that the president of fifa or a sub committee of fifa sits in zurich and appoints the winner? I guess not. The voting process is so so transparent and open for all and sundry. If any other person wins it I would only keep my reservations to myself but never differ openly cus the procee of the award is very credible.

ddippset: I don't even know why iam still here really, I insist messi just scored 73 goals and won 4 trophies with barca, and I insist messi. Was argentina's best player and one of the best players in the world cup 2006. As for your 5 questions, even though I didn't see the essence I still answered, go tru the thread again and see my full response.I think u are derailing from the argument. Even if chelsea won the champs league they still aint the best taem in europe. That remains the stand out thing about messi, even when he doesn't score goals or win trophies its still very easy to watch him and call him the best.just watching the ball at his feet makes you call him the greatest. I could quote so many world legends who have called him the greatset since 08 even calling him the best ever. Just today kobe bryant and lebron james called him the best and prolly the best ever.iam not at war with you or getting personal but I don't understand why people keep faulting a voting process. It should be sneider, it should be that and that. I mean who knows best. Just let the guys vote.

kobe bryant and lebron james are not in the same line of business and as such are not good examples of ppl to say who the best are. i watched platini the uefa president crowned chelsea even against his wishes the best team in europe 2012 and you seat somewhere and tell me that chelsea are not the best? are you saying chelsea is not the best ever or the best in 2012? who then was better than chelsea in 2012? teams that don't know how to score a single goal from 200 chances or teams that can't defend a goal lead just for 7 minutes? or are u here to prove that penalty shoot-outs are not part of the game?
barca was our wife in the two legs as we won them with clean shit in england and beat them at nou camp on away goals. buyern won madrid though on penalties but everybody agreed that buyer was the better team and chelsea at 90 minutes in munich was winning buyern based on eufa away goal rules.
so if on penelties chelsea could win those who won madrid and win barca, what else will a team do or who else do we need to win to become the best? okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk, man u or fc basel will be the best team because the barca we won cannot be better than us in 2012.
talking about voting, did our amos adamu not collect bribe to vote on a football hosting right? will his vote not be part of the majority (bribe takers) or compromised guys in uefa/fifa who we all know are corrupt like nigerian rulers.
"I'm happy but I didn't expect it because everyone had been talking so much about Xavi and Andres," said Messi later, after collecting his thoughts. "They also deserved it for the wonderful year they had. They won the World Cup, which usually goes a long way to deciding who wins this award, and they both had big parts to play in that. That's why I thought one of them would be going up to collect the trophy. It was a wonderful surprise."
who said this and on what occasion?

http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/the-ballon-dor-controversy/

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Sneijder-would-ve-won-2010-Ballon-d-Or-under-old?urn=sow-306318

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/2011/01/did_the_wrong_man_win_the_ball.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/2011/01/did_the_wrong_man_win_the_ball.html

http://www.redcafe.net/f7/fifa-ballon-dor-2010-voting-list-revealed-318418/

As a Barca fan, although im proud to see the Barca trio up there together in the final three, i must admit that Iniesta shouldnt have a place there. Not to discredit him of anything, he's a great player, but coincidentally he didnt really do much the past year aside from scoring the winner in the World Cup final. He was injured most of last season and had a decent World Cup, but nothing spectacular to be awarded the Ballon D'Or. If all that merits you is scoring the single goal in the WC final, then Iniesta receiving the award would be the biggest joke in history. Instead of Iniesta, an Inter Milan player should have been included: either Milito or Sneijder, preferably the latter due to his excellent performances with both Inter and Holland (reaching the final of the World Cup)

http://www.mundoalbiceleste.com/Article.aspx?id=2197


uncle, the word here is controversy. can i hear u say,CONTROVERSY. the only way to get urself equipped for discussions like this one is by reading. i read a lot before getting involved. you can show ur strength in this one by linking me up with articles to back ur position.

as for chelsea, we had to over-turn our 1-3 deficit against napoli, we had to beat barca at home and them turned the almighty/noisy nou camp to a burial ground just with 10 men for 90 mins. don't forget, we did benfica home and away. we had to move straight to munich and took a trophy that was very close to their shelf. the rebellious platini was forced to call us champions. uncle, how many times does a man kill lion for him to be called a lion killer?
i have been making my identity open all these while as a chelsea faithful but u have been pretending not to see that. show urself. who are u? something in me keeps telling me that u are still in shock over the camp nou wonders where a torres that has refused to score since wake up with a hammer and a nail just to close una matter.
barca as a team has destroyed the carriers of many refs since i know u will doubt me, ask ovrebo and i want to tell u something that will happen in england come next season. ARE U STILL THERE? IF HOWARD WEBB DOES NOT CHANGE HIS WAYS, MAN U WILL DESTROY HIS CARRIER. go and mark my words. this idio (t) is always pointing to the spot whenever the man u divers put up their shows but God pass them as he brought them so high and left them to fall on their own with just second to steal the trophy.
by the time u finish the assignments given to u above, i know u will be violent in ur thinking as critical thinkers are men who are exposed to what short sighted men can't see even from the tallest mountains. i want to begin to see now. messi, barca,platini, uefa and fifa have one thing in common-CONTROVERSY

@1025, pls do try to reduce the length of your argumentative essays a bit. The length of your write up kinda waters down the sensibility of it; I could hardly read your entire write ups. Lebron ad kobe don't have a say but 1025 does? Lol. That Platini predicted a barca_madrid final and so crowning chelsea was against his wish? Check out the latest club rankings and tell me chelsea's position pls. Barca has become chelsea's wife? Well that's for another day, we are talking about the best player not chelsea. So you are not insinuating that fifa bribes voters to vote for messi?

You v succeeded in turning this whole debate up on its head;from the best player argument to telling me how chelsea killed barca, slept with napoli, ate benfica for lunch? Quit quoting what messi said about xavi and co. See, humility is a unique virtue. Only people without such virtue would mistaken it for an admission of defeat. Messi would always tell you how he did not deserve an award and how his teammates deserved that award. That's messi for u. anyway the base line of this debate with you is this; never you say that any player be it messi or not did not deserve an award simply because in your infinite wisdom it should have gone to someone else. Like I said let the voters vote and let the votes count, like yobo's when he voted for messi last year.

http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/the-ballon-dor-controversy/

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Sneijder-would-ve-won-2010-Ballon-d-Or-under-old?urn=sow-306318

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/2011/01/did_the_wrong_man_win_the_ball.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/2011/01/did_the_wrong_man_win_the_ball.html

http://www.redcafe.net/f7/fifa-ballon-dor-2010-voting-list-revealed-318418/

http://www.mundoalbiceleste.com/Article.aspx?id=2197

am sorry if i was writing too much. pls sir, read through these links as they have no other issue apart from the controversies of 2011 player of the year selection. i will be waiting to get a feedback based on my reduced write up. like i said, am sorry about that just that i am loaded to the teeth for this argument.

chelsea ranking does not matter because we have broken a course/jinx of not winning champions league. platini can go ahead and rate chelsea 300 as long as we keep doing great things on the trophy end of it all.
in the same manner players are winning trophies at europe and world cup and messi is busy winning best player.
the ranking that has arsenal in 6th position while man city is at the 28th position. uncle these rankings are based on performances over 5 seasons and not just one season.
if any 2012 ranking will tell me that a barca team that chelsea won at the bridge and held at camp nou is better than chelsea, i will start laughing in the language of the argentines.
2012, chelsea conquered europe and barca is among our victims. if it were to be in the days of slave trade, barca will be cleaning compound and washing dishes at the bridge by now so thank God for the end of slavery.

1025: chelsea ranking does not matter because we have broken a course/jinx of not winning champions league. platini can go ahead and rate chelsea 300 as long as we keep doing great things on the trophy end of it all.
in the same manner players are winning trophies at europe and world cup and messi is busy winning best player.
the ranking that has arsenal in 6th position while man city is at the 28th position. uncle these rankings are based on performances over 5 seasons and not just one season.
if any 2012 ranking will tell me that a barca team that chelsea won at the bridge and held at camp nou is better than chelsea, i will start laughing in the language of the argentines.
2012, chelsea conquered europe and barca is among our victims. if it were to be in the days of slave trade, barca will be cleaning compound and washing dishes at the bridge by now so thank God for the end of slavery.

son, it takes much more than winning a trophy in donkey years to be no 1 because in life and in the english dictionary there is a word 'fluke'. You have to be consistent to be number 1. Every sincere football pundit and fan knows that chelsea winning the uefa was a fluke. Like messi and robben missing their penalties. Live with it son chelsea deserved their semi final spot but against barca if u say barca did not outclass and dominate chelsea completely then u need a reality check.iam sorry partner but your chelsea needs to replicate for at least 3 seasons before any pundit or neutral would take Ithem seriously. I know u don't care, u already said so, but that is the word on the streets son. You nEed to get outta ur living room.

1025: http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/the-ballon-dor-controversy/

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Sneijder-would-ve-won-2010-Ballon-d-Or-under-old?urn=sow-306318

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/2011/01/did_the_wrong_man_win_the_ball.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philminshull/2011/01/did_the_wrong_man_win_the_ball.html

http://www.redcafe.net/f7/fifa-ballon-dor-2010-voting-list-revealed-318418/

http://www.mundoalbiceleste.com/Article.aspx?id=2197

am sorry if i was writing too much. pls sir, read through these links as they have no other issue apart from the controversies of 2011 player of the year selection. i will be waiting to get a feedback based on my reduced write up. like i said, am sorry about that just that i am loaded to the teeth for this argument.

more like it. Keep it short and simple let's debate and school each other some more.

ddippset: son, it takes much more than winning a trophy in donkey years to be no 1 because in life and in the english dictionary there is a word 'fluke'. You have to be consistent to be number 1. Every sincere football pundit and fan knows that chelsea winning the uefa was a fluke. Like messi and robben missing their penalties. Live with it son chelsea deserved their semi final spot but against barca if u say barca did not outclass and dominate chelsea completely then u need a reality check.iam sorry partner but your chelsea needs to replicate for at least 3 seasons before any pundit or neutral would take Ithem seriously. I know u don't care, u already said so, but that is the word on the streets son. You nEed to get outta ur living room.

hahahahahahaha, brother, is this outclassing a new word in the soccer dictionary? if u know mourinho, ask him and he will explain u more that ball possessions no dey win matches. what many do not know is the word TACTICS. man u has been failing against barca simply because they want to beat barca in their own pattern of football. when u talk about chelsea match(es), what do u have in records? how many meetings and who is on top? is it about the last season alone? can fluke be repeating itself every year? the last time barca progressed over chelsea, it was on away goal and ovrebo concepts. what is fluke about something a team does against another every year. history and records of chelsea barca is saying that in their 12 meetings in champions league, chelsea has won barca 4 times, barca won 3times and 5 draws. the same history told me that the last time barca beat chelsea was in 2006.
is important u make references. facts and figures are there. you can as well back up ur arguments with internet related infos. history does not lie. with the record u are just knowing today, is it possible barca has upper hand over chelsea or it is possible that winning u this time around was a fluke?
we have our pattern of play which does not allow barca enough space to do what they do to arsenal and man u. chelsea even before the coming of the roman financial powers have been a hard nut for barca to crack.
what i enjoy about chelsea is that they know when to strike and when to defend. we don't defend because our opponents and defending or strike because u have had 200 strikes on target. if our power is on our goalkeep which barca does not have, why wasting time running up and down the pitch when we know you can score even with petr cech back the ball.

u can secretly look at this site:
http://www.worldfootball.net/teams/chelsea-fc/fc-barcelona/11/

1025:


hahahahahahaha, brother, is this outclassing a new word in the soccer dictionary? if u know mourinho, ask him and he will explain u more that ball possessions no dey win matches. what many do not know is the word TACTICS. man u has been failing against barca simply because they want to beat barca in their own pattern of football. when u talk about chelsea match(es), what do u have in records? how many meetings and who is on top? is it about the last season alone? can fluke be repeating itself every year? the last time barca progressed over chelsea, it was on away goal and ovrebo concepts. what is fluke about something a team does against another every year. history and records of chelsea barca is saying that in their 12 meetings in champions league, chelsea has won barca 4 times, barca won 3times and 5 draws. the same history told me that the last time barca beat chelsea was in 2006.
is important u make references. facts and figures are there. you can as well back up ur arguments with internet related infos. history does not lie. with the record u are just knowing today, is it possible barca has upper hand over chelsea or it is possible that winning u this time around was a fluke?
we have our pattern of play which does not allow barca enough space to do what they do to arsenal and man u. chelsea even before the coming of the roman financial powers have been a hard nut for barca to crack.
what i enjoy about chelsea is that they know when to strike and when to defend. we don't defend because our opponents and defending or strike because u have had 200 strikes on target. if our power is on our goalkeep which barca does not have, why wasting time running up and down the pitch when we know you can score even with petr cech back the ball.

u can secretly look at this site:
http://www.worldfootball.net/teams/chelsea-fc/fc-barcelona/11/

o my word!its always blood sweat and tears right? You see them run and run and run, you see them sweat ans sweat and sweat and their jerseys get drenched, you see them come in with career threatening tackles, you see them try to pass the ball to one another. All in an attempt to keep possession. And when they struggle so hard but cant get the ball they call it a pattern. So funny and cowardly. They chase the ball, they sweat for the ball, they put in strong tackles but they still cant sniff the ball,hahahaha. Then they call it a pattern.

dont get me wrong son, chelsea are the champs. I could put 10 pregnant women to camp in their box and they still would win barca that way. but thats football for you. In about 10 to 20 percent of football games, the second best team prevails. So it was chelsea versus barca. That 20 percent played out. Football suffered that night.but then congratz chelsea(my tongue in my cheek)

ddippset: o my word!its always blood sweat and tears right? You see them run and run and run, you see them sweat ans sweat and sweat and their jerseys get drenched, you see them come in with career threatening tackles, you see them try to pass the ball to one another. All in an attempt to keep possession. And when they struggle so hard but cant get the ball they call it a pattern. So funny and cowardly. They chase the ball, they sweat for the ball, they put in strong tackles but they still cant sniff the ball,hahahaha. Then they call it a pattern.

but u said nothing about the record i posted. did mourinho also win la liga by fluke? give me any failure u know about and i will link u up to their reasons for failing. did barca loose because chelsea defended through out? did chelsea score 3 goals against barca from the same defensive position? if yes, it means chelsea will score 21 if they attacked. from defensive position, chelsea won napoli and benfica. same defensive position, buyern could not stand chelsea's preasure for just 7 minutes. why is napoli not complianing that they lost to chelsea because chelsea parked trailers? pls say something about the record of chelsea over barca.

1025:

but u said nothing about the record i posted. did mourinho also win la liga by fluke? give me any failure u know about and i will link u up to their reasons for failing. did barca loose because chelsea defended through out? did chelsea score 3 goals against barca from the same defensive position? if yes, it means chelsea will score 21 if they attacked. from defensive position, chelsea won napoli and benfica. same defensive position, buyern could not stand chelsea's preasure for just 7 minutes. why is napoli not complianing that they lost to chelsea because chelsea parked trailers? pls say something about the record of chelsea over barca.

most teams do not just park the bus, they play like 'men' against other teams but against barca they tuck their tails btw their legs and run to the back. Thats what i mean. Being defensive does not mean that you wont score goals. Infact you do. You dont detect the game you only bank on your opponent's mistake.chelsea does have a record over barca alright but ask yourself this; why is barca still revered to chelsea? Its about the technique. This is the 21st century. People do not just focus on results and close eyes to other details. People are not stupid.they know that football has gone beyond parking the bus to win trophies or get better head to head results.even if chelsea win 6 trophies and barca wins 0, people would still rate barca 10 times above chelsea. Its a lot beyond head to heads. Its bitter but its the truth.