Ballon D'Or 2012

[FXBlade]

Trouble with Messi is in La Liga he'a brilliant but compare his La Liga form to his World Cup form? Have somebody mark him off the park and he's invisible. same as CR7. I'd look towards RVP personally this season rather than Messi.

Before you all join Adrien Chiles on the Messi dick polishing... This was Leverkusen... They pointed out the points difference in La Liga. It's all well and good but without the supply, where would he be

Yeah but he likes it.

But going back to the world cup record, hell ill call it international matches

RVP - P62 - G25 - A0  (Not sure why it has him down at 0 assists but it is what is)
Messi - P67 - G22 - A20

Both of them started playing for their country in 2005

RVP
2009   10-2
2010   11-5
2011   9-6 (4 of which came in the same game against San Marino)
2012   1-0


Messi
2009   10-3-2
2010   10-2-2
2011   13-4-10
2012   1-3-0 (hat trick against Switzerland)

I know which player I would rather have in my team at International and club level.  Stats don't lie

[Adam Wrong]

International stats against shite clubs in friendlies mean nothing. Copa America, World Cup he was invisible...

[Insomnia]

Assists is the most misleading stat in football. A guy can do a 30 yard dash, beat 3 players and play a killer pass, team mate then plays a simple squared pass and THEY get the assist. Or how about Rivaldo in the World Cup 2002 final? without touching the ball he did a feint and stepped over it which split 2 players for Ronaldo to finish easily. ..That doesn't get counted as an assist, yet simply rolling the ball to an unmarked player after your team mates have done the hard work does..

And think about it.. you could play the greatest passes ever but have Leroy Lita up front. You could play 7 killer, world class, direct chance creating passes a game (which is a good number obviously) and finissh the season with 5 assists. But even then some of the greatest "playmakers" were hardly assist kings. Did you know Zidane only created one direct assist (and it was a freekick) for France's all time scorer Henry? One!! And he played for mos of Henry's international career, too. On stats alone no one would pick him for goals and assists at NT or Club level. No one. His qualities went deeper than a mere glance at a stats sheet. And you do get that in some players.

That said, though, Messi is awesome. I would rather pay to watch RVP, though and really I do think this he has a chance to nick the Ballon D'Or this year. Ya never know..

[Rob]

Then Wayne Rooney has to be considered too because his goal ratio is almost identical to Van Persie's this season