Suarez, Messi, Neymar by Luca Caioli

Author:Luca Caioli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Icon Books

Chapter 7

High points

Although football stars are accustomed to victory, there will always be special days, unique memories and unforgettable experiences that stand out above the rest. These are life’s magic moments.

Messi: four FIFA Ballon d’Or awards

Yes – this time, it’s his turn. This time, the saying ‘third time lucky’ is accurate. After coming third in 2007 and second in 2008, Lionel Andrés Messi wins France Football magazine’s 2009 Ballon d’Or. And he wins it by a mile, garnering 473 out of a possible 480 points, more than double the score of runner-up Cristiano Ronaldo, who is awarded 233 points. Xavi Hernández comes third with 173 points. Ninety of the award’s 96 voters vote for Leo as their number one player, and with 98.54 per cent of the maximum number of points possible, nobody in the 54-year history of this prestigious prize has won it as convincingly or unanimously as Messi. It is a real triumph.

All sides are united in agreement on Messi’s records, performances, talent, class and professional career. The journalists of France Football’s international voting panel have all bowed to the Flea. Tributes have poured in from around the world: from Japan to Iceland, from Ghana to New Zealand, from Kazakhstan to England.

Lionel is the first footballer who has trained through Barça’s La Masia youth academy to lift the Ballon d’Or. ‘This prize is an honour. It is wonderful and very special, but I wasn’t obsessed with winning it. I knew that if it was meant to happen it would, but either way I would keep on working in the same way as always,’ he says in the Nou Camp press room. A few days later in Paris he makes a confession that, though unexpected, is not surprising: ‘I would love to win it again. It would be magnificent to win one more.’

And he doesn’t have to wait long. Twelve months later in Zurich, the cameras zoom in on Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández, the three finalists of the 2010 Ballon d’Or, all from Barcelona. It’s an unprecedented trifecta in Blaugrana history, testament to the club’s style and teaching traditions. An emotional Pep Guardiola opens the envelope to reveal the winner … and the Flea goes up on stage once again to receive his prize. But the decision is not without controversy this year. Not only have Iniesta and Xavi enjoyed an impressive title haul with Barça this year, they also won the South Africa World Cup with Spain. But the judges have spoken: Leo is the best.

One year later, he does it again. Brazil’s Ronaldo is charged with opening the envelope to reveal the winner of the 2011 Ballon d’Or. And this time there are neither surprises nor controversies. The Flea takes his third trophy, equalling the tallies of Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Johan Cruyff (1971, 1972, 1974) and Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992). He has entered the hall of fame.

Naturally, someone so accustomed to smashing record after record is not going to stop there.

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