FIFA have just announced the three-man shortlist for the FIFA Best Player award. The usual suspects – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – as expected make the list, although I must add they have been prolific but have failed to hit the standards they have set in recent years. To put it in simpler words – they have failed to match their own lofty standards.
Then there’s Luis Suarez – who probably deserved to be on the list as much as any other footballer – but fails to make the cut at the expense of Antoine Griezmann, who had nothing short of an outstanding but heartbreaking year.
The big question, now that the names has been revealed, is who will win the award?
Instead of jumping to conclusions that Ronaldo or Messi or even Griezmann should, why don’t we take a bird’s eye view at what the three stalwarts have achieved this year.
Antoine Griezmann – A year of nearly theres (34 goals in 60 appearances for club and country)
The French forward started the year by helping his side finish third in La Liga, 3 points behind eventual winners FC Barcelona and 2 behind runners-up Real Madrid. Griezmann was instrumental as his side were in the title race up until the second last game of the season when an unexpected loss to Levante ended their hopes of securing their second title in three years.
While there was the disappointment of missing out on La Liga, there was also the excitement of an impending Champions League final against Real Madrid.
Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid had been down this path before.
On 24th May 2014, the two sides took on each other for the biggest honour in club football at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, when the 60,976 in attendance watched with bated breaths as Sergio Ramos’ header in the 3rd minute of added time inspired a Los Blancos comeback which saw them score 3 without reply in extra-time to win La Decima – crushing the Los Rajiblancos’ dream of winning their maiden Champions League title.
On 28th May 2016, the two sides met again at San Siro in Milan and the game went to penalties but Griezmann’s side – once again – had to come back home empty handed as a missed penalty by Juanfran swung the advantage in Real’s favour and Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up and dispatched the winning penalty to help his side claim La Undecima. Whilst Griezmann, Diego Simeone and the rest of Los Rajiblancos were left heartbroken, having been in the tie until the second last kick of the game.
However, this was not the last heartbreak that Griezmann had to suffer.
At Euro 2016, in France, the 25-year-old helped the hosts reach the final of the competition with his six goals coming in handy. However, in the final against a resilient Portuguese side, the French struggled to deliver in front of their home fans and a solitary goal from Eder in the 109th minute handed the win to the Cristiano Ronaldo-led side. Griezmann may have failed to inspire France to a win at Euro 2016 but he won the hearts of millions of fans and also the Euro 2016 Best Player award.
Another nearly there moment for the Frenchman – his third of the year.
A poor start to the season sees Atletico find themselves in 4th place in the league table, 9 points behind leaders Real Madrid after 13 games. But it is football and you can never say never and we might still yet see Griezmann have the last laugh by inspiring his side to a La Liga title ahead of their arch-rivals.
Lionel Messi – So close yet so far (55 goals in 58 appearances for club and country)
Lionel Messi might be regarded as the greatest player of all time but he will never be Argentina’s Maradona. At least, not yet.
The fleet-footed Argentine had inspired and guided his team to two consecutive finals in as many years. First, it was the extra-time loss at the hands of Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, followed by the penalty-shootout loss to Chile last year at Copa America 2015.
However, it looked like Messi will finally break his duck with the Argentine national team at Copa America Centenario – having successfully carried them to the final of the tournament with the help of his 5 goals.
But as luck would have it, it was a case of so close yet so far for Messi and Argentina – as they lost to Chile in the final of the tournament, once again in the penalty shootout.
Messi with Barcelona had a much better year despite getting knocked out by Atletico Madrid in the quarter-final of the Champions League. They won La Liga on the final game day while they also beat Sevilla in the final of the Copa del Rey. In fact, Messi and Barcelona won four trophies in the entire last season – having already won the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 2015.
Cristiano Ronaldo – Been there, done that (51 goals in 54 appearances for club and country)
While Messi and Griezmann suffered heartbreaks on the biggest of stages, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who cemented his place as arguably the greatest Portuguese footballer of all time, having inspired them to their maiden European Championship win. A feat even the great Eusebio or Figo failed to achieve.
However, his exact contribution in the final is debatable given he was injured midway through the first-half and had to be substituted. In his defence, he did have an undeniable presence on the touchline inspiring his teammates and also giving them instructions after being withdrawn.
But before making Portugal realise their dream of winning a major international honour, he first inspired Real Madrid to their 11th European Cup win with a penalty shootout win over Atletico Madrid in the final – where the Portuguese buried the final and the most important spot-kick. He amassed a total of 16 goals in the Champions League last season – an all-time record.
Ronaldo’s heroics in front of goal also meant that Los Blancos were in the La Liga title race up until the last game of the season, when they needed Barcelona to drop points if they were to win the title from right under their noses. Alas, it was not meant to be.
