Power Ranking Barcelona's FIFA Ballon D'Or 2015 Shortlist Contenders
No team has more players on the shortlist for the 2015 Ballon d'Or than European champions Barcelona, who field six of the 23 nominees.
After winning the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey this year, that is perhaps no surprise, but where do the six men rank in terms of their chances of actually lifting the prestigious award?
You might be able to guess who's at No. 1, but what about the rest?
6. Ivan Rakitic
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Ivan Rakitic’s first season at Barcelona really couldn’t have gone any better, as the Croatian ended the 2014/15 campaign clutching the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey trophies.
He played a crucial role in all of the successes, too, really coming to the boil at the end of the season as Barca chased glory on three fronts, most memorably popping up with the opening goal just four minutes into the Champions League final against Juventus in Berlin.
It was a strike which showcased his ability to break into the penalty area and pop up on the end of moves, but he also knows how to score from distance, too, as evidenced by his fine free-kick in last December’s 4-0 Copa Del Rey victory at Huesca.
A deserving member of this shortlist, Rakitic has nonetheless seen performances dip a little during the 2015/16 campaign and had to wait until last week’s Champions League victory at BATE Borisov to notch his first two goals of the season—ironically after coming on as a substitute, having lost his place in the team.
A classy and smooth operator with the ball at his feet, it should be no time before Rakitic is back to his best and making a real difference in a Barca side which will once again be chasing honours on all fronts in this campaign.
He might not be able to ever beat the heights that he helped his team reach in his first season at the club, but Rakitic will certainly be trying.
5. Andres Iniesta
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Currently out injured for the past month, there is no club in the world which wouldn’t miss the many talents of the mercurial Andres Iniesta—and Barcelona have been finding that out.
Now the club captain following the summer departure of Xavi, the 2010 World Cup winner featured heavily in Barca’s stunning 2014/15 campaign, combining his stylish midfield play with the many attacking talents ahead of him as he provided the link between his side’s stunning attacking trio and the players behind them.
Iniesta has entered his 14th season at Barcelona and, with Xavi gone, he has arguably never been more important.
Although his goalscoring exploits may have dried up somewhat in recent seasons—he struck just three times in 2014/15, all in the Copa del Rey—he can still make a sustained impact from deeper on the pitch, acting as a kind of mentor for the other players around him and yet still proving capable of bursting forward and attacking with intent.
Nowhere was that more apparent than in the assist for Ivan Rakitic’s goal in the Champions League final victory over Juventus in Berlin.
Following the initial link-up between Jordi Alba and Neymar down the Barca left, Iniesta was able to drift away from Juve’s Arturo Vidal and into space in the penalty area. Once there—and with Leonardo Bonucci quickly closing him down—he had the presence of mind to shift the ball to Rakitic, and from there the Croatian was able to fire his side into an early lead.
It was the perfect example of just what Iniesta has been able to do for years, and the fact that it came so early in such a crucial match only served to highlight his importance.
Barca would love to welcome him back from injury as soon as possible, and so would the rest of football.
4. Javier Mascherano
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If the outrageous talents of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar are the inspiration behind Barcelona’s frequent success, then it could be said that Javier Mascherano is the man who provides the stage on which the stars can shine.
The Argentinean has been an unqualified success ever since he arrived in Catalonia from Liverpool in the summer of 2010, with 2015 being his most successful year at the Camp Nou, as he played a crucial role in the treble success.
Equally at home at either centre-back or in the centre of midfield, Mascherano displays a will to win which is unmatched pretty much everywhere else in world football.
His strengths lie in both setting an example for and motivating his teammates, and after a terrific 2014 World Cup in which he led Argentina to the final as the team’s figurehead, he followed that up with a stellar season, as Barca won pretty much everything that it was possible for them to win.
This season he’s featured 14 times in all competitions as Barca go for success again both at home and abroad, and although he can occasionally overstep the mark, as shown with his recent red card for insulting the referee against Eibar, he is still the type of player that you’d much prefer to have on your team than have to play against.
Now 31, one could argue that Mascherano has never been in better form, and as Luis Enrique’s Barca strive for yet more success, you can be sure that he’ll be on the front line scrapping and fighting for the cause.
3. Luis Suarez
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We all knew about Luis Suarez’s quality before he moved to Barcelona from Liverpool last year, but since he made the switch to Catalonia the Uruguayan seems to have taken his staggeringly talented performances up a further few notches, as he is surrounded by better players.
Currently acting as the team’s figurehead in the absence of the injured Lionel Messi, Suarez has scored seven goals in his last four appearances at the Camp Nou, including a hat-trick in last weekend’s 3-1 La Liga victory over Eibar.
Another who experienced a first season at Barcelona which could really not have gone any better, Suarez scored the crucial second goal in the Champions League final victory over Juventus in Berlin as he followed up Messi’s effort to fire home from close range and put his side 2-1 up midway through the second half.
Now thankfully devoid of the controversy which has so dogged his career—for now anyway—Suarez has instead focused on becoming one of the very best forwards in the world, taking the staggering form he showed for Liverpool in the 2013/14 season and building on it.
He might never be universally accepted by many football fans, but Suarez’s position as one of the most watchable talents in the world has been well-established by now, and he only looks to get better as he assumes more and more responsibility in his second year in Barcelona.
The year 2015 has been a very good one for him, but as he continues to get better and better, you have to wonder just what 2016 has in store for him.
2. Neymar
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One of the most staggering things about Barcelona’s 2014/15 season was the astonishing goalscoring form of Neymar, who scored 39 goals in his second season with the Catalan giants as they swept to their treble success.
At any other club that would of course make him the top scorer and star attraction, but as long as Lionel Messi is around, that is never going to be the case. But the crucial and uplifting thing about Neymar is that he doesn’t appear to get jealous about not being the main man.
It is that humility and freedom which makes him such a great player to watch, and it was somewhat fitting that he had the final word in the Champions League final when he broke away late on and fired Barcelona’s third goal past Gianluigi Buffon with the final kick of the match.
This season he’s scored eight goals in seven La Liga appearances—including four in a recent win over Rayo Vallecano—to establish himself as Barca’s top scorer so far this season, but the sheer amount of goals he scores can often remain something of a surprise, given just how technically gifted he is.
It is always easier to focus on the flicks and tricks and think that that is all Neymar offers, but he is so, so much more than that.
Remarkably he’s still only 23, too, meaning that world football fans have many more years to enjoy the many qualities of a player who will be around at the very top level of the world game for the next decade.
Lucky us.
1. Lionel Messi
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He’s injured at the moment and faces a race against time to be fit for next month’s El Clasico clash with Real Madrid—a fixture he relishes more than any other—but of course Lionel Messi has to be ranked as No. 1 here as he closes in on a fifth Ballon d’Or crown.
The Argentinean ace continues to both delight and inspire football fans across the globe, with 2015 seeing him go up a level in terms of performances at various times, inspiring Barcelona to their treble success.
Perhaps using Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2014 Ballon d’Or win—and rather “in your face” acceptance of the award—as motivation, Messi reached remarkable heights at the beginning of the year, perhaps peaking in Barca’s victory over Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final in which he scored twice—memorably bamboozling Bayern defender Jerome Boateng for one of the goals.
Messi and Ronaldo’s rivalry has become ingrained in modern football culture and continues to shape the way we view the top end of the game these days, and although there will come a day when the pair are challenged and ultimately surpassed, that day doesn’t look like it's coming anytime soon.
Messi is rightly considered the favourite for the Ballon d’Or this year and will win it in all likelihood, but perhaps we’ll start to see a different version of him soon as he plays more of a support role to the outrageous talents of Luis Suarez and Neymar.
He began to do that toward the back end of last season, and although injury is robbing us of the opportunity to see him right now, it won’t be long before he’s back on the pitch and delighting the watching millions once more.
