Messi is a legend; but are awards like the Ballon d'Or actually important in a team sport?

Is the Ballon d’Or really as important as it is made out to be?

So Lionel Messi has just won another won another Ballon d’Or – his fourth one in succession. That’s one more than any other footballer  in the history of the game (Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini have three each). So does that single out the Argentinian maestro as the greatest player in the history of the game at the tender age of just 25?

Before Messi came along, the debate was always between Pele and Diego Maradona. It’s an engaging debate that has divided people connected with the beautiful game for over two decades. But the fact remains that neither one of them won the Ballon d’Or. Not because they weren’t good enough, but simply because they were ineligible as South Americans. That rule was changed in 1997 and had it not been so, Messi wouldn’t have had a Ballon d’Or in his locker either.

Do you really need an award to tell people who the best player in the world is? I’m quite certain Lionel Messi would exchange Cristiano Ronaldo‘s La Liga medal from last season for a Ballon d’Or (probably even two or three) given the choice, without a second’s hesitation. Football is all about the team. Luckily, we have been able to maintain an environment where team awards are more treasured than individual awards.

The Ballon d’Or is fun, just like award shows are for music and films. But just like the AMAs and Grammys, it is hardly something you need to show a lot of importance to. Well, it’s actually not as bad as the Grammys where The Beatles and Coldplay have same number of awards.

In recent times, with around 600 people voting, the Ballon d’Or has become a populist vote. You don’t need an award to tell me Messi is the best player in the world. I’m not sure about you, but I’d rather remember Messi in 2012 for winning the Copa del Rey and for scoring a remarkable 91 goals in the year. Not for the Ballon d’Or.

The other contagious question asked is what people who vote for the Ballon d’Or concentrate most on – team trophies, individual feats, just the World Cup in a World Cup year? Or do they just vote for the ‘best player in the world’?

In 2012, there were players who performed brilliantly and at the same time won bigger trophies than Messi did. For example, Messi’s biggest rival Cristiano Ronaldo won the La Liga with Los Blancos, producing some sensational individual performances on the way. Real Madrid fans and many neutrals believed he deserved it because of that. But one important fact that is overlooked is that this is an award for the calender year and not for the 2011-12 season.

In later half of 2012, Messi’s Barcelona pulled 16 points clear of Ronaldo’s Madrid in the 2012-13 season, with Messi having scored nearly double the goals in the period. I’d imagine that would have counted a lot in this vote. There lies another fault with the Ballon d’Or. Football is and has always been about a season and not a calender year.

The entire concept of Ballon d’Or is wrong. No way should so much important be given to an individual award in a team sport, especially an award that doesn’t differentiate between a goalkeeper keeping out a goal and a forward scoring a goal, which are two complete different arts of the game.

Does the absence of the World Cup take away the glory of his achievements?

Coming back to my earlier question asking if Messi is the greatest player of all-time, I can’t give you a definitive answer because Pele, Maradona and a lot of other great players were well before my time. But a lot of arguments seemed to be about the World Cup. A lot of people believe Messi will never match those two until he wins the World Cup.

The question to counter that seems to be: Should a tournament in which each player gets to play a maximum of seven games count for more than what the player has done for four years, week-in and week-out? Well, it shouldn’t. Did anyone question Sachin Tendulkar‘s greatness until India became the number one team in Tests and later, won the World Cup? Messi has dominated the Champions League, a tournament considered to be equivalent to the World Cup by many these days, for the best part of the last decade.

Having said that, I do believe that Messi would have to put in a voluminous performance at international football‘s biggest stage to satisfy himself more than anyone else. He has no better opportunity than in 2014 in an Argentinian team that has improved leaps and bounds under the management of Alejandro Sabella after having a disastrous couple of years under Diego Maradona and Sergio Batista.

Contrary to popular belief, Messi’s performances for Argentina have always been good but probably not as good as his displays at Barcelona at the same time. But under Sabella, he’s been able to replicate his club form in an Albicelestes shirt in a spectacular manner. You might say that most of the games Argentina have played lately have been friendlies, but you can beat only what’s in front of you, isn’t it? At just 25, he’s just a hat-trick away from breaking into La Seleccion’s top three goal scorers of all-time. That stat busts a lot of myths right away.

We’re all privileged to be living in the era of Lionel Andres Messi, but his Ballon d’Or awards should always be looked at with a pinch of salt. Not because he hasn’t been the best footballer in the world over the last four years, but because there’s simply no point in them.