World Football Gist: 2013 BALLON D'OR

By Tanimu Umar

The most outstanding player in world football is set to be named today, and there are plethora of arguments as to who among the trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery deserve the crown. I was privileged to follow the performances of these short-listed players and would like to give my candid opinion, based on the laid-down criteria for selecting the Ballon D'Or winner.

Amongst the trio, Ribery was the most decorated in 2013, helping Bayern Munich to win the treble and the World Club Cup. He was consistently conspicuous throughout the winning runs, scoring 22 goals in 52 appearances while providing 18 assists.

Cristiano Ronaldo ended the year without a trophy for club and country, but he single-handedly took Portugal to the World Cup, his performance against Sweden over two legs in the play-offs was one of the best individual performances I've ever seen. Over the calendar year he scored an astonishing 66 goals in 56 appearances, provided 15 assists and had 160 shots on target.

Messi, the winner of the last four Ballon D'Or, is the acclaimed best player in the world, but injury has daunted his performance last year, and although he was on hand to motivate Barcelona to the La Liga title, he seemed to have had his lowest performance in the last five years. In 2013 Messi had found the net 42 times in 45 appearances, made 15 assists and had 87 shots on target.

Looking at these statistics, one can easily be at lost as to who among the trio can emerge victorious this evening, my candid prediction here is: Although Ribery had won the trophies and had the mist assists, Cristiano's incredible goal haul, as it proved in 2008 when he last won the Ballon D'Or, will be supersede Ribery's records and Cristiano will most likely be named 2013 Ballon D'Or winner by a slight margin.

The award for the most outstanding player is given based on contribution to team's (club side and national team) success as well as individual performance. Team's success always attracts more attention, but I will be very surprised if Cristiano's individual prowess did not overturn Ribery's trophy haul. This is my candid
opinion.

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