Mirror Mirror On The Wall, WhoIs The Greatest Footballer Of Them All?
This year’s Ballon d’Or trophy is being contested by a slew of greats, and among the fifty-candidate shortlist are nestled five Manchester United players. The five Man Utd players to pass muster are Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.
United have the most players in the shortlist of any English club, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have the highest number of Premiership players from an English club in the shortlist, with Chelsea getting four players nominated, Arsenal three, Liverpool two, and Tottenham a solitary one (Berbatov). The French think that Kaka is in pole position to bag the award, but slick Argie Lionel Messi has to be in with a shout too. So which of the players for domestic clubs has the best chance of winning? Cesc Fabregas has been a revelation of late, or does one of Manchester United’s clutch of players deserve to win – Cristiano Ronaldo for example, played a huge role in Manchster United’s success last year, do you think the Portuguese winker deserves the title? Or are you of the persuasion that Drogba or Essien deserve a shout? Or perhaps you are a cockney Red who has stalked followed David Beckham’s career from the start and think that the washed up Hollywood princess deserves a win.
Whatever the case, make your own minds up – here is the Fifty-candidate shortlist:
Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Daniel Alves (Sevilla), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Petr Cech (Chelsea), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paolo), Brasil; Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Mahamadou Diarra (Real Madrid), Diego (Werder Bremen), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter), Filippo Inzaghi (Milan), Kaka (Milan), Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Younis Mahmoud (Algharafa), Paolo Maldini (Milan), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Guillermo Ochoa (America Mexico), Andrea Pirlo (Milan), Ricardo Quaresma (Porto), Raul (Real Madrid), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Paul Scholes (Manchester United), Clarence Seedorf (Milan), Carlos Tevez (Manchester United), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Kolo Toure (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Francesco Totti (Roma), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), David Villa (Valencia).