Messi wins Ballon d‘Or despite World Cup flop

Lionel Messi has won the inaugural Fifa Ballon d'Or award at a star-studded ceremony in Zurich, pipping Barcelona teammates Xavi and Andres Iniesta to the coveted prize.

The 23-year-old Argentine was the first recipient of the new award, a merger of the Fifa Player of the Year prize and Ballon d'Or, and it was reward for his super performances with Barcelona throughout last season.

"I'm surprised to win but pleased to be here with my friends," said Messi, who also scooped both the old awards last year. "To win it makes it even more special. I want to share it with all of my friends, my family, all the Barcelonistas and the Argentinians."

Messi joins a small but illustrious list of players to have won football’s most prestigious awards in consecutive seasons. Another South American, Ronaldinho, was named Fifa Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005, while Dutchman Marco van Basten was the last player to win the Ballon d’Or twice on the bounce, in 1988 and again in 1989.

Messi might consider himself a little fortunate to have won in 2010 after what by his standards was a season that failed to hit the heights consistently. Though he was outstanding for Barcelona in the Spanish league, scoring 42 goals in 36 matches, he dazzled only in bursts during the Champions League (Barca being knocked out in the semi-final by Inter), and on the biggest stage of all Messi was one of a number of world-class flops. Along with the likes of England’s Wayne Rooney, Franck Ribery of France and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi was virtually anonymous throughout the World Cup.

Andres Iniesta, on the other hand, performed superbly both for Barcelona and for Spain, for whom he scored the winning goal in the World Cup Final victory against Holland. And many people were also surprised when Inter Milan’s Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder didn’t even make the shortlist having inspired his club to its first taste of Champions League glory and his country to their first World Cup Final appearance since 1978.

In other awards, Jose Mourinho was named the Coach of the Year for his role in guiding Inter Milan to an unprecedented treble in 2010, the Italian side winning a domestic league and cup double as well as beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
 
“Obviously for me, the most important are the collective titles, not the individual ones... but it's an historic trophy, historic for me, historic for Portuguese football as well and obviously I feel great pride," The Special One said later. “I'm proudly Portuguese, the Portuguese don't have so many of these proud moments, and this is certainly good for Portuguese ego. After Eusebio, Figo, and Cristiano [Ronaldo], we are now four golden balls.”

There wasn’t a Premier League player to be seen in Fifa’s other anticipated award, their composite team of the year. European champions Inter Milan had three players in Sneijder, Lucio and Maicon, but Barcelona  dominated with six players including Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique. There was a surprise inclusion for Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo while his teammate Iker Casillas was nominated as goalkeeper. ·