Since 2008, FIFA’s award for the world’s best soccer player has gone to Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, prompting many to wonder when that reign will come to an end. While it’s likely to continue at least through this season, FIFA’s inclusion of 23-year-old Neymar on this year’s three-man Ballon d’Or short list is a big step for soccer. The young Brazilian is the first player in his early 20s to make the list since Messi and Ronaldo were runners-up in 2007. Messi was just 20 years old at the time and Ronaldo was 22.
Like his predecessors, Neymar is a force that comes with accuracy, speed and the ability to finish in the clutch. Neymar is currently having his best season ever, scoring 16 times in his 17 starts for Barcelona so far. Fourteen of those goals have come during La Liga play, putting him above both his teammate Messi and Real Madrid’s Ronaldo, who have just four and nine, respectively. (Messi, of course, missed five La Liga games in October and November after being forced out due to injury).
Neymar’s also responsible for one of the year’s most spectacular goals. During Barca’s 3-0 victory over Villareal on Nov. 8, the Brazilian showed off his foot-eye coordination by popping a ball over the head of his opponent before dancing over to kick it into the back of the net.
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Neymar provided his own assist that time but much like his Barcelona teammate Messi, he’s willing to share the glory. He’s a striker first and foremost, but won’t hesitate to knock the ball to a teammate who might have a better chance at finishing than him.
That collective attitude is what’s made Neymar, Messi and Luis Suarez the most successful front three in the world. Together, the three have been responsible for scoring 125 goals for Barcelona in 2015 — more than any other front trio in the world. If Neymar can keep that strategy going in the future as new, even younger players join the squad in the coming years, he should have no problem taking over when Messi, 28, will eventually have to leave.
That said, that won’t be this year. Messi is still in his prime and is leading Barca’s 2015 efforts, despite his two-month injury break. Since Jan. 1, the Argentine has scored 48 goals total and recorded 24 assists in 56 club and country appearances. His efforts seemed almost superhuman last season when he led Barcelona to the coveted treble by taking home trophies in the 2014/15 season in La Liga, the Spanish Cup and the Champions League. This feat has most experts agreeing the Argentine will win his fifth FIFA title, which prior to 2010 was called the FIFA World Player of the Year.
Messi earned the honor 2009 through 2012, and since coming back from injury leave he’s shown himself to be in top form, scoring three times in the two games he’s started.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, is competing for second. While he’s also scored 48 goals so far in 2015, his team has not been as successful — a point that the 30-year-old player himself concedes might be enough to disqualify him from winning his fourth Ballon d’Or in a row.
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“To be honest, I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes,” he said on an appearance on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show earlier this month (via the Guardian). “You win competitions, you win the Champions League you win the league in terms of individual.”
The Portuguese superstar will likely come in second, but the threat of a Neymar nutmeg will continue to loom.
“I’ve never played soccer to be the best player in the world, or to win the Ballon d’Or. I’ve always just played with the idea of continually getting better, to always surpass my goals, to always be better, play better, train better. To be the best in the world is the direct result of all of this work,” Neymar said (via Marca.com) the day before FIFA announced the short list. ” If today I’m being spoken of in such terms, it’s a clear sign that what I’m doing is working.”
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