I can't recall any instances where Messi won undeservedly, but I do recall Ronaldo robbing Ribery of the Ballon D'or award in 2013. Ribery was literally the best player in Europe, having won every title including the Champions League, but the Ballon D'or was given to Ronaldo, who went trophyless.I recall Ribery blasting the award organisers for their decision.
The Real Madrid PR is unmatched, it's about popularity and PR now.
Without a doubt Ribery played excellent football for the majority of his time at Bayern Munich, including the time when he was playing some of the best football of his career. No doubt the issue about PR and popularity is true but it is not new and powerful clubs such as Real Madrid can get their way on many things. That season even if Ronaldo missed out on the Champions League he still played stunning football as an individual maybe that was why he pipped Ribery to the award.
He scored the only goal in the home defeat to Sweden and then a stunning hat-trick in the second leg away to single-handedly make Portugal qualify for the world cup. He scored 66 goals in 56 games. In that season Ronaldo won and Messi came second both were ahead of Ribery whereas I think either Ribery should have come second to Ronaldo or won but either way Ronaldo or Ribery deserved to win but Messi should not have been in the top two.
I gotta say, Messi is by far the best in the world. But there is a discussion, rightfully so, when it comes to talent.
Indeed. In my opinion about Messi, he simply did not deserve to win the two most recent of his awards 2021 and 2023. I would probably consider 2019 as another. I remember Ribery being furious and a lot of people surprised he did not win that year but on merit but Ronaldo scoring 66 goals in just 56 games was something spectacular.
Was Ribery robbed in 2013? It is difficult to understand how Messi was voted ahead of him that season but it is understandable why Ronaldo would be voted above him. Likewise, it is understandable why Ribery would be voted ahead of both Ronaldo and Messi.
Ronaldo did so in a few regards, but Messi lifted the whole game to (onto? - asking for correction @JollyGood
) another level.
game to and
game onto and
game on to will suffice, all are correct considering the context (but I am sure you already knew that)
Agree? Or not? Whatever, elaborate!
I am speechless
I'll quote you in full to not harm the context here. Correct me if I am wrong, but my statistics (if you are referring to season 12/13) say something else.
Ronaldo: 55 games, 55 goals and 13 assists (13 yellows and one red)
Ribery: 43 games, 11 goals and 23 assists (4 yellows and one red)
Messi: 50 games, 60 goals and 17 assists (2 yellows).
Ribery scored a single Champions League goal that season. No goals in the DFB Pokal. I know that Ribery played an amazing season and goals shouldn't be the only metric. But when you compete against Ronaldo and Messi, there is hardly any way around taking on the challenge in terms of the number of goals scored. Messi scored 46 goals in 32 La Liga games. That is insane and not even his best (he once scored 50 goals in La Liga only).
I think these numbers are so crazy that it's just tough to see how the majority of entitled voters could go away from Messi. Also, fairness and complaints play a role, too. At least in the eyes of the public. Messi was sent off 2 times in his career. Ronaldo 12 times, constantly diving in the opponents' box and complaining nonstop. Ribery similar thing. They have all had their weak moments, but Messi by far not as much as the other superstars. That has always impressed me. In those clasicos, Messi was literally sent through a meat grinder against Real Madrid. Ramos, Pepe, Casemiro literally tried to break his legs and yet he never took a dive, never really complained in an exaggerated way, always kept going. That impressed the masses.
There are summaries on Youtube where they put together all those scenes where every other players would have just fallen to the ground, but Messi is a beast who always wanted to keep the game, the situation alive and make the best out of it. Ronaldo, this physically trained machine, fell like a barbie all too often. Ribery had to be held back by his coaches and teammates very frequently because everyone knew his complaints are about to lead to a red card.
I think all these details count and yes @JollyGood, Messi often left me speechless