Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo Rivalry: It’s Time to Forget about the Ballon D’Or

Here’s a message to all the people who crow about or moan about their favorite player winning or losing the Ballon d’Or, or the FIFA World Player of the Year award, or the Doritos® SnackTime™ Best Footguy on the Planet Award™:

It’s time to stop.

Lionel Messi lit up social media with two absoludicrous dribbles to set up two goals in Barcelona’s win against Espanyol.

Which is as it should be - he taught yet another masterclass.

For some reason though, this led to a renewed call to collectively moan about France Football giving Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid the Ballon d’Or award for the best player of the year.

The entire concept of such an award in a collective sport is tenuous at best, but it’s even more so given the fact that FIFA is no longer officially recognizing the award.

Instead, they’ve split up again and FIFA is giving their own award later on. One that will probably be as relevant as this one, which is to say not relevant. This is even if you ignore the various accusations of corruption and politicking that surround the awards.

Just so you know, my stance on this has not changed from last year. Go on, read what I said when Messi won the award in 2015.

So next time Messi does something outrageous, do me a favor and enjoy it. Forget all the individual awards. Don’t even bother tweeting insults at France Football. It’s all irrelevant.