SHORTLIST

Ballon d’Or the award that every coach, player and fan are talking about with everyone having their own opinion on who should claim it this time around. The 3 candidates on securing the award are: Franck Ribery, C.Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Lionel Messi is the powerhouse as he is the only player not only to snatch it up 4 times but the Argentinean wonder-kid has won it in consecutive years with no one coming even close on taking it away from him.

The Barcelona star started off the season in his usual form as he scored goals and just continued proving to be the engine behind the Catalan team. The Barcelona of Pep Guardiola is widely considered to be one of the best teams in history and it could not be possible without Lionel Messi who pushed the squad to feats that never were achieved before.

Messi took a huge blow after picking up an injury that left him out of the playing fields of Barcelona for around 7 weeks and even during his absence many people still consider him to be the favorite on winning it for another consecutive year.

Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery has made a few accolades of his own as he arguably was the most important player for the German side in their tough task on securing the treble in 2013 and not only that but also helping France on qualifying for the upcoming World Cup. Along with Karin Benzema, he is one of the men in charge of propelling France to glory.

Real Madrid’s C.Ronaldo is the last candidate of claiming the Ballon d’Or in a season that truly might just be his best ever. The Portuguese superstar broke the Champions League record as he scored 14 goals in a calendar year and continue his sensational form by breaking another record this time by scoring 9 goals in the group stages of the European tournament.

The former player of Manchester United even said that he could be in the best form of his life which is something that is becoming clearer after each match that he plays not only for Real Madrid but also for Portugal as he singlehandedly pushed his national team past the qualification stages of the 2014 World Cup and managed to edge them a spot into the last 16 remaining teams.

C.Ronaldo scored all 4 goals in the 2 legged play-off matches against Sweden which earned them their spot into the next stages of the worldwide competition.