Cristiano Ronaldo Ballon D'Or Win Labelled 'Absurd' by Johan Cruyff
Ajax legend Johan Cruyff slammed the voters' decision to award Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo the 2014 Ballon d'Or in a column he wrote on Monday, saying he thinks it's "absurd" more deserving players were overlooked.
Writing for Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf (h/t Goal.com's Stefan Coerts), the three-time winner of the prestigious award makes the case for Toni Kroos, who he believes could have been the recipient in the past two years:
"At the highest level, it's all about the combination of individual quality and achievements. From that point of view, it's absurd that for the second year in a row a player has been given the award who did not both play excellent and win the most trophies.
"
Back in 2013, Bayern Munich won every single trophy out there, yet Cristiano Ronaldo still won the award instead of a player like Toni Kroos or someone else from Bayern.
In 2014, Kroos was a key player again for the team that won the World Cup, yet he was not even among the final three nominees. Ronaldo was completely anonymous at the World Cup...
Let this be clear, I cannot take this Fifa award seriously anymore.
Cruyff echoed the sentiments most critics of Ronaldo voiced in the week leading up to the Ballon d'Or gala, pointing out fellow nominees Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer both made it the final of the 2014 World Cup. Ronaldo and Portugal suffered a disappointing first-round exit and were soundly outplayed by Neuer's Germany during the group stage.
The Ballon d'Or hasn't been won by a defensive force since 2006, when centre-back Fabio Cannavaro was selected as the FIFA World Player of the Year, as the award was called then. A recurring criticism of the award is the fact goals are weighted far too heavily compared with other accomplishments.
Former England international Gary Lineker provided the perfect example after Sunday's La Liga action:
Kroos joined Real Madrid during the summer after winning the domestic double with Bayern Munich and the World Cup with Germany, and he proceeded to add the Club World Cup and European Supercup to his tally with Los Blancos. Per Infostrada Sports, no player won more silverware in 2014:
As shared by AS English, he was also elected as IFFHS' best playmaker on Monday:
Most fans and pundits appeared to agree Ronaldo was fully deserving of the award, however, which was the third of his career.
Bleacher Report's Janusz Michallik simply couldn't look past Ronaldo's sensational scoring record in 2014 as well as the Champions League triumph he contributed to:
The Ballon d'Or remains somewhat of a popularity contest, with journalists, pundits and members of the federation selecting their top performers rather than a specialised jury. But the voting procedure isn't frequently questioned, and the lack of controversy in 2014 suggests there was at least some consensus.
Cruyff won't stand alone in his criticism of this year's Ballon d'Or, but the majority of fans and pundits appear to disagree with him.
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