Historic World Wide Balon d'Or 23 player short lists

I left Neuer out with many doubts. I'd probably include him if it would be a Top 25, but I think a coherent reason for his exclusion could be that he wasn't constantly demanded for personal brilliance because of how dominant Bayern Munich was throughout the season on all fronts and an exceptional defense.

Meanwhile, I think Xavi and Özil were still showing up as class players, but with a considerable decline, especially the Spanish one. It seems to me that there is a certain consensus in affirming that it was not such a very good/great season for Xavi and it was the first one in which the media began to talk about his age (also about Iniesta surpassing him in trascendence more firmly). He was not included in almost any ideal XI of the UEFA Champions League and many of La Liga that I usually review (not even among possible substitutes).

I guess Özil would be a narrower cut, but I think Götze and Mata were a bit more spectacular in Germany and England. In certain terms I think the German one ended up becoming the most influential/skilled player of Borussia Dortmund even over Lewandowski and Reus and I remember some media called him "The German Messi". He was the second best assister of the UEFA Champions League (just behind Ibrahimovic) and was elected by Kicker in the Bundesliga Team of the Season. On the other hand, Mata was the Europe's top assister of the season, the joint top assister of the Europa League, the top assister of the FA Premier League, nominated for the FWA Player of the Year, elected in the PFA Team of the Year and Chelsea Player of the Year by second time consecutively.

Finally, I think this was an exceptional season for Javi Martínez as an anchor and key engine of Bayern Munich forming a special partnership with Schweinsteiger.

 

I feel different in the sense I don't see the difference with your Dani Alves in 2017, who has roughly the same performance profile (except for the final) and number of games played.

 

... or Neymar his patchy and irregular appearances of 2012-13.

His most undeserved Ballon d'Or finishing so far.

 

You are quite right to defend the season of Mata, Götze and Javi Martínez, since it was very worthy in all 3 cases. However, you have to forgive me if I insist on the merits of Xavi, Neuer and Ozil, on all of the first two. As a good follower of Barcelona, I remember that during this season, Xavi's performance was still excellent, in fact he was by far the best passer in the league (close to 95% accuracy). In League he played less minutes than in the previous seasons, but it was not indispensable that he always played given the comfort with which his team won the competition. In the Champions League I was still playing practically every minute. He was included in the first FIFA XI team and was the 8th most voted in the Guardian poll.
Neuer was, without doubt, the best goalkeeper of the year. He was included in the best eleven of FIFA, UEFA and ESM. He occupied position number 22 of the Guardian survey. Of course, as you indicate, he was very well protected by his defense.
Ozil was in the best 11 of the UEFA and in the second best 11 of the FIFA. He was the 12th player with the most votes in the Guardian poll. He got 9 goals and 13 assists in league games.
Regarding Mata, Gotze and Javi Martínez, they were not included in any of the first 5 teams of the FIFA XI, nor in the UEFA. Mata occupied the 30th position in the Guardian survey and Götze the 34. Although Javi Martínez was included in the ESM month team in April and May, he was only 99th in the Guardian survey ...

 

With FIFA XI you mean FIFA/FIFPro World XI? If so, I've some problems to take it as a reference because, just like the Ballon d'Or, it's an annual recognition that occurs at the end of the chronological year, so it doesn't fit well with the time lapse used here.

Aside from that, I checked The Guardian as one of my sources and he wasn't chosen in La Liga's XI of the season precisely with descriptions pointing to his physical problems, what I remembered. I didn't find many sources that mentioned it directly, but here's one: FC Barcelona 2012/13 Season in Review: Xavi

Of course, as I mentioned before, I think Xavi still had a very good level, but I think it was a generalized sensation he lost his deployment and at times was less brilliant in the Blaugrana engineering. I remember at that time I felt like he was still included in some awards because of the common inertia of his own name.

Could I be very wrong?

I agree that Neuer was the best goalkeeper of the season, it's just that I didn't include any goalkeeper this time (2013) with him as first possibility.

By the way, any opinion about Ibrahimovic instead of Ribéry (the common option) for the Top 3? I think I lean towards the Swedish, although my impression of the French may be affected by the relays in the protagonism of the Bayern Munich's players.

 

2012-13 Zlatan Ibrahimovic

3 ESM Team of the Month inclusions: Sep 2012, Oct 2012, Nov 2012
Maximum assistant of the UEFA Champions League: 7
Ligue 1 Player of the Season
Ligue 1 Team of the Season
Top scorer of the Ligue 1: 30 (8 assists and 4 penalties)
Guldbollen
6 goals and 3 assists in 8 official matches for Sweden

2012-13 Edinson Cavani

1 ESM Team of the Month inclusion: Jan 2013
2nd Top scorer of the Europa League: 7
Top scorer of the Serie A: 29 (4 assists and 7 penalties)
Guerin d'Oro
Serie A Team of the Season
6 goals and 2 assists in 13 official matches for Uruguay

Beyond the literal, I think both were in a similar radio in terms of lethality in front of the goal, but the Swedish was at a higher level as far as playmaking, creativity and variety of resources (some really spectacular). In this period (between 2012 and 2014) I think Ibrahimovic reached his highest peak, so high as to think about him as one of the best forwards of the 21st century (perhaps top 5 in my opinion).

 

I often get the a similar impression about Ibrahimovic, maybe not necessarily about 2013 and 2014, but certainly his 2011/12 season and additionally his Euro 2012 was very impressive all around, that for me at least, it's difficult to entertain the idea that he had previously been even better than he was in season 2011/12. At any rate, he certainly looks the part in terms of appearing to be one of the best forwards of the 21st century, but ultimately, he was undeniably unfortunate enough to have played in an era where Italian clubs were not competitive enough to truly challenge the elite of world football at the time i.e. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, etc.

 

I understand, it's the same reason that makes me doubt, the average level of the French League, despite my direct perception about the level of Ibrahimovic.

He didn't go unnoticed in the UEFA Champions League, he was the maximum assistant of the competition (although 4 of the 7 in total were against a relatively weak Dinamo Zagreb in the group stage), he was man of the match twice in the group stages and led the team in the quarterfinals against Barcelona (alongside Matuidi) with 1 goal and 2 assists, but certainly almost nobody include him among the great figures at the end of the tournament (usually surpassed by Messi, Lewandowski and even Burak Yilmaz).

On the other hand, actually, I don't take into account his match (and goal) against England (happened in 2012), but good performances like the match he played against Austria in October and what I remember as an extraordinary clash of individuals against Cristiano Ronaldo for qualifying to the 2014 World Cup:

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If it's not Zlatan, do you think that Ribéry's common option is the best for the Top 3?

By sure it was a great season for him and is the most common representative of that Bayern Munich that swept in Europe, but what makes me doubt is that he wasn't the clear leading figure of the team in all competitions by the most of the sources: just once including in the ESM Team of the Month (although perhaps because he competed with Cristiano Ronaldo and Bale in the same position), 1 goal (against BATE Borisov) and 2 assists that didn't impress to the most in the UEFA Champions League (rarely included in an ideal team), although the Bundesliga best player and top assistant and man of the match of the UEFA Super Cup final.

 

By the way, I made an adjustment that I think is better suited to the times.

I added Neymar instead of Ramos for the 2012 list and added Gündogan instead of Neymar for the 2013 list.

 

Could be, but Neymar was elect the Best Player of the Confederations Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_FIFA_Confederations_Cup, w/ 8,29 of rating according WhoScored https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/2...tistics/International-Confederations-Cup-2013.

He was elect for the XI of Campeonato Paulista 2013:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campeonato_Paulista_de_Futebol_de_2013_-_Série_A1#Seleção_do_Campeonato

And if you are talking about 2012-2013 (instead of only 2013) he had in 2012 the best rating in the modern times of Brasileirão (7,12):
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bola_de_Prata

 

This is the main reason. The original criterion determines that all players are judged according to the period of their own seasons, so while for most players in Europe the period to judge is the 2012-13 season, for a player in Brazil at club level is basically the 2013 calendar year. That means that the 2012 Brasileirao belongs to the analysis for the 2012 list and for 2013 he loses all the second semester, when he's transferred to Barcelona (this second semester becomes part of the analysis of the 2014 list (2013-14 season as is usual in La Liga and the rest of European tournaments).

Although at the international level the chronological year (2013) continues to be taken into account (what includes the 2013 Confederations Cup) I believe at this point he gives advantage to the competitiveness of all the rest candidates (he didn't compete in the Copa Libertadores and couldn't play the Brasileirao).

 

In these cases, I think the analisis should fit to a chronological year.

Even, when repeating one semester the next semester

 

I know Peru FC doesn't rate him and his skills (the pinball machines had "sublime technical skills", sure...), but why not Van Persie as an individual?

The main difference maker for Bayern in the domestic cup and CL was, if anyone, Robben.

 

Nevermind, my mistake

 

What I think it would be a bit difficult to make the change of criteria is to decide when to do it exactly. This adjustment has probably been gradual, but to represent it in these lists it would have to have a punctual break.

On the other hand, I think it has affected very little until now. I mean, the big international tournaments (European Championship, Copa América, Copa de Oro, Confederations Cup and World Cup) take place in mid-year, so they can easily be added to the season that ends that year (including Africa Cup of Nations and AFC Asian Cup, which takes place at the beginning of a calendar year), so there are no major tournaments that escape that lapse of time.

They're qualifying matches that do mix between semesters, but its impact is quite minor, I'd say.

comme, by the way, indeed I use as reference the ESM nominations, but I'm trying to discriminate the nominations per each month regarding their international performances in this time setting (at this point I separate each game by date). Ibrahimovic was nominated in September (when he was choose UNFP Player of the Month), October and November of 2012 and I suppose that in October the match against Germany (4-4) affects to some extent and in November the friendly against England, although in October he also featured in Le Classique against Olympique de Marseille and scored in the UEFA Champions League, while in November he made 5 assists in the UEFA Champions League.

 

Yes I feel that Falcao is a bit behind the others to be honest. Footballing wise I wouldn't rate him as high (but perhaps a greater athlete) and his goals tally included more penalties as the ones of Ibra and RVP (as many penalties as Ibra and RVP combined). Falcao had only 2 assists in all games he played! That says it all about his 'skills'.

He was exceptional in the super cup against Chelsea but otherwise far from sure his non-league exploits (cup + europe + nt) were equally important as the interventions by Ibra and RVP (factoring in here that Atletico Madrid is no Real Madrid, and were in general not great in Europe).

Then I also think about Ibra at the various euro tournaments (for a 'bad' teams) or RvP his great goal at euro 2012 - not sure whether Falcao really had that in 2012-13 (even if his team was underdelivering).

With the exception of Falcao maybe playing in a better league, Ibra and RvP look by all metrics better.

 

Actually, like everyone, I also rate van Persie in the top group on base to his skills and production, it just I don't see him so clearly superior in the equation about skills (especially against Ibrahimovic, Ribéry, Bale or Falcao for the third position).

Robben is also in my consideration in the top group based on peak and skills, but his less activity in the first semester should diminish somewhat that was decisive at the end of the season (and in 2013-14 he seems a superior candidate).

P.D.: Pinball machines?

 

This is my final list, at least until the final revision of the decade:

2013

BALE, Gareth (Wales & Tottenham Hotspur)
CAVANI, Edinson (Uruguay & Napoli)
CRISTIANO RONALDO (Portugal & Real Madrid)
DANTE (Brazil & Bayern Munich)
FALCAO, Radamel (Colombia & Atlético de Madrid)
GÖTZE, Mario (Germany & Borussia Dortmund)
GÜNDOGAN, Ilkay (Germany & Borussia Dortmund)
IBRAHIMOVIC, Zlatan (Sweden & Paris Saint-Germain)
INIESTA, Andrés (Spain & Barcelona)
JAVI MARTÍNEZ (Spain & Bayern Munich)
LAHM, Philipp (Germany & Bayern Munich)
LEWANDOWSKI, Robert (Poland & Borussia Dortmund)
MATA, Juan (Spain & Chelsea)
MESSI, Lionel (Argentina & Barcelona)
MÜLLER, Thomas (Germany & Bayern Munich)
PIRLO, Andrea (Italy & Juventus)
RIBÉRY, Franck (France & Bayern Munich)
ROBBEN, Arjen (Netherlands & Bayern Munich)
SCHWEINSTEIGER, Bastian (Germany & Bayern Munich)
SUÁREZ, Luis (Uruguay & Liverpool)
THIAGO SILVA (Brazil & Paris Saint-Germain)
VAN PERSIE, Robin (Netherlands & Manchester United)
VIDAL, Arturo (Chile & Juventus)

Top 3

1) MESSI, Lionel
2) CRISTIANO RONALDO
3) RIBÉRY, Franck

All lists