In fairness, it wasn’t the easiest of choices, was it?
The best goalkeeper of a generation in the form of his life, a rampant Real Madrid forward and his outrageous goalscoring record, or Lionel bloody Messi.
No wonder there was a mix of votes for the 2014 Ballon d’Or.
Manuel Neuer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi divided opinion alright and, even though Ronaldo came out on top with 37.66%, Messi in second place with 15.76% and Neuer behind that 15.72%, there was a nice spread of votes.
Martin O’Neill and Robbie Keane, we are pleased to report, didn’t raise eyebrows like Roy Hodgson did with their votes. Both the Republic of Ireland representatives got it right with Cristiano Ronaldo topping their selections. Hodgson? Well he didn’t even think Ronaldo was top three.
Here are some of the votes.
Martin O’Neill
1) Cristiano Ronaldo
2) Lionel Messi
3) Diego Costa
Robbie Keane
1) Cristiano Ronaldo
2) Lionel Messi
3) Gareth Bale
Wayne Rooney
1) Cristiano Ronaldo
2) Toni Kroos
3) Gareth Bale
Roy Hodgson
1) Javier Mascherano
2) Philip Lahm
3) Manuel Neuer
Lionel Messi
1) Angel Di Maria
2) Andres Iniesta
3) Javier Mascherano
Cristiano Ronaldo
1) Sergio Ramos
2) Gareth Bale
3) Karim Benzema
Trust Roy Hodgson to select a defensive midfielder he got rid of for Cristian Poulsen. It seems that the England manager only watched the World Cup this year and nothing more. In fairness, he had a lot of time to sit around and watch it.
Here’s the full extensive, captains, coaches and media votes from all over the world.
