Nobody else is talking about it – so we will – next Sunday marks the beginning of Spain’s football season and we feel that this properly unveils the 2010/11 best football players in the world.
The chief attraction is of course – the Messi v. Ronaldo debate. But please don’t forget that last season the five nominees for FIFA’s Player of the Year Award (now the FIFA Ballon d’Or) were all from La Liga: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Kaka (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Xavi (Spain). And then there is of course David Villa – who can now regularly display his talent on the big stage at the Camp Nou.
Sure – the Premier League has Wayne Rooney – but that’s all the English league can manage when we are talking about the very best. Right? : )
(We’ll see how quickly we get hate mail from English fans, after we hit the “publish” button.)
As for me – you’ll be surprised to know that I won’t be focusing on my favourite, Lionel Messi, this season. No, I will be focusing on Cristiano Ronaldo. Yes – CR9. Why? Because if anyone can get the Portuguese step-over king back to the top of the heap again – it’s Real Madrid’s new Portuguese manager, the one, the only, the very special, Jose Mourinho. Sir Alex Ferguson did a masterful job of making Ronaldo the best player in the world while he was at United – and I think that Jose is up to the task too.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ll still be watching the Barclay’s this year but my focus is going to be on Real-Barca, Mourinho-Guardiola, Ronaldo-Messi.
My focus will be on La Liga – because maybe we need to start talking again about which exactly is “The Best League in the World”…
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Does anyone else think that “FIFA Ballon d’Or,” whatever its synctactic & phonetic merits in French, is a miserable-sounding phrase in English?
To me it sounds like a new chocolate bar…
Barclays premier league Most exciting and most WATCHED league in the world by far. Nuff sed.
But does that make it the best? The Prem is starting to look like Serie A just before it fell from it’s lofty perch. It’s starting to look wobbly. I’m wondering if soon we won’t have a best league. The best teams and players will be spread around the world – and that might not be a bad thing.
For anyone to say that la liga is the best league in the world is either stupid or racist, and obviously neanderthal…..
Thanks for your opinion Leigh. We value it. One of the members of our blog team asked if we should approve your comment, given it’s inflammatory nature and I said: “Yes, of course!”
I suppose that my own post might have been a little provocative to begin with – so I accept the passion of your words.
On the charge of being stupid – I admit that I could be wrong. I am open to that in the end. But for now I’d ask you to look at a subsequent post I made after watching the wondrous El Clasico in November where one of the great teams in the history of football – Barcelona – beat Real Madrid 5-0. Based on that game and the facts in that post, I think I my opinion is holding up. Here is that post: http://bestplayerintheworld.com/2010/12/why-la-liga-is-now-the-best-league-in-the-world.
( Here is also an article which reminds us all about the wonder of that El Clasico: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Clasico+stands+World+year/4028807/story.html )
And I would like to add to those facts by pointing to the recent Ballon d’Or balloting where only one EPL player and not one Englishman made the 23 man shortlist. Imagine, 23 players, enough for two full teams – and no Rooney and only the declining Didier Drogba – listed among the best players in the world.
On the charge of racism – nothing could be further from the truth. I care not about race, creed, colour, etc. I care only about one thing – about what is the best, who is the best.
As for the charge of being neanderthal – well all I can say to that is that the EPL and English football leads the world in leg breaks: Bobby Zamora and Aaron Ramsey being two recent victims of the high quality of the EPL. That for me is neanderthal.
But let’s not end on this note. I really am capable of balancing my views. For instance, last week I was watching Real Madrid – Sevilla and was dying to flip to a Premier League match for all of the diving and acting and time-wasting that was going on. It really was terrible. The EPL has it’s brutality, La Liga it’s deceit.
Nothing is perfect. No league is perfect. I just think that the EPL has declined and if you’re looking for the very best players, very best coaches and very best example of football – right now – you’ll find it in La Liga.
Is a geast acihvement so much d is year from d world of football
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