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Messi wins a third Fifa Ballon D'or, but is La Liga too easy?
Argentine is crowned player of the year yet again, but he plays in a league of two teams
WHILE English football fans may have been distracted by the return of Thierry Henry last night, over in Zurich Lionel Messi was being crowned the world's best footballer, for the third year in a row.
The 24-year-old Argentine, who plays for Barcelona, has become the first person since Michel Platini in the mid-1980s to win the award three years running. Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten are the only other players to have ever won the accolade three times in their careers.
Messi's Barcelona team-mate Xavi came third for the third year running and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, the last man to win the award before Messi, came second for the second time in three years.
It was also the second year in succession that the three men vying for the award all played in Spain, although the presence of a Madrid player prevented Barca from securing a second clean sweep.
It would be ridiculous to deny Messi's genius, but La Liga is hardly competitive. It is dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid, almost to the extent that Rangers and Celtic rule the Scottish game.
Last year for example, Barcelona finished the season 25 points clear of Valencia in third place. Seville in fifth place were a further 13 points adrift. The top two sides had goal differences of +74 and +69.
Messi and, since he arrived from Manchester United, Ronaldo have been in spectacular goal-scoring form in recent seasons. Last term Messi scored 50 goals for his club, and the season before that 45. Ronaldo was even more prolific last term, netting 53 times.
But does the lopsided nature of the Spanish league give a false impression of quite how good the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Xavi actually are?
It is a terrible cliche, but would Messi be quite as effective were Barcelona playing the likes of Stoke City week in week out?
Messi's record for Argentina suggests that without his Barcelona team-mates and the obliging opposition he encounters in La Liga he is somewhat less effective. At international level the 24-year-old has 19 goals in 66 games.
The Premier League may not be the force it once was, but it would be interesting to see how Messi fared in the rather more uncompromising surroundings it offers. And it would give us some idea about how we should judge the achievements of Robin van Persie, with his 35 goals in a calendar year. He was overlooked for the Ballon d'Or award. ·
