#1 Fernando Torres would have won a Balloon d'Or
Back in 2008, when Cristiano Ronaldo
won his first Ballon d’Or, he beat
Lionel Messi for the prestigious
honour. But what very few people
remember is that Fernando Torres
was the second runner up for the
award.
The Spaniard had a terrific first
season at Liverpool, during which he
scored 33 goals in just 46
appearances.
If Torres had won the Ballon d’Or in
2008 and then showed his slump in
form like the one he had at Chelsea,
then that would have been an even
bigger story for football fans to talk
about.
From Ballon d’Or winner to open goal
miss would make a good title for that
story.
#2 Chelsea would have won two Champions League
Chelsea played their first Champions
League final in 2008 when they took
on rivals Manchester United in
Moscow.
The Blues were on song in Russia and
were denied several times due the
brilliance of Edwin van der Sar.
Manchester United took the lead in
the game through a typical Ronaldo
header. The Portuguese rose high in
the air and connected with the ball to
power it past Petr Cech in goal.
Chelsea leveled through Lampard, but
Ronaldo’s early goal meant that the
score remained the same till the end
of extra time and United won the
game on penalties.
What if Ronaldo were not there to
score that stunning goal? Maybe
Chelsea would have had two
Champions League titles by now.
#3 Gerd Muller's record would have been intact
In 1972, Gerd Muller set the record
of the most goals in a calendar year
by scoring 85 goals for his club
Bayern Munich and national team,
Germany, combined.
Muller broke the record of Ferenc
Deak, who scored 66 goals in 1946
and he bettered the record by a good
29 goals.
Up until 2011, the closest anyone has
come to the record was Cristiano
Ronaldo with 60 goals. But in 2012,
Lionel Messi Broke the record by
scoring 91 goals in a calendar year.
Ronaldo has scored 66, 69 and 61
goals in the last three years, but no
other player other than these two
have come close to Muller’s 85.
So it is safe to assume that the record
would have been intact for many
more years if these two were not in
existence.
#4 Zlatan Ibrahimovic may have become a star at Barcelona
Zlatan Ibrahimovic never fails! The
Swede was a success everywhere he
went and won several titles during his
well travelled career.
In 2009, Ibrahimovic moved to
defending European Champions,
Barcelona, from Internazionale for a
player plus cash transfer. The
eventual transfer fee was around the
region of €69.5 million (after
accounting for Eto’o’s transfer fee).
Barcelona was managed by Pep
Guardiola at that time and the
Spaniard had eliminated the
traditional forward from his side and
introduced Lionel Messi in the false
nine role.
This was a problem for players like
Ibrahimovic and Henry, as both were
out and out strikers.
Despite his poor relationship with
Guardiola, Ibrahimovic scored 16
goals in 29 games for the Catalan
club.
He did not want to play second fiddle
to Lionel Messi and in the end went
out on loan to AC Milan after just one
season at Barcelona. If it wasn’t for
Messi, then maybe we would have
seen Ibrahimovic achieve much more
at Barcelona and maybe even win the
elusive Champions League.
#5 Wayne Rooney may have had the iconic status that belongs to Ronaldo
Wayne Rooney joined Manchester
United a year after Cristiano Ronaldo,
but the current England and
Manchester United captain didn’t get
the same sort of recognition the
Portuguese star received during their
time together in England.
Ronaldo was the clear fan favourite at
Old Trafford due to his flamboyant
style on and off the pitch. Rooney on
the other hand was just like any other
regular shabby scouser.
Although Rooney always had a good
name amongst the Man Utd faithful,
it was only after the departure of
players like Ronaldo, that he started
to get the recognition and accolades
that Ronaldo was bestowed with long
back.
Rooney’s enthusiasm and high
energetic game has come to the fore
in the recent years and he is now one
of the most loved players of the
United family. If it wasn’t for
Ronaldo, Rooney would have easily
become a cult hero long back.
#6 Balon D'Or wouldn't have been a competition between two players
In the last six years, the Ballon d’or
award has been shared between these
two players. Ronaldo won the award
in 2008 and then Lionel Messi won
the award four consecutive times till
2012. Ronaldo won the award again
in 2013 and it is very likely that the
Portuguese will win the award again in
2014.
Nowadays the Ballon d’Or is a
competition between these two and
the award is usually awarded to the
player with more number of goals in
the calendar year.
Players like Iniesta, Sneijder and
Ribery who led their club or country
through impressive campaigns have
been overlooked for the award in
favour of Messi and Ronaldo. And the
trend is sure to continue unless these
two ceased to exist.
#7 Gareth Bale Vs Neymar would have been Messi Vs Ronaldo debate
During the summer of 2013, when
Barcelona purchased Neymar and
Real Madrid countered that with the
purchase of Gareth Bale, it was said
that Neymar versus Bale would be the
new individual battle to watch out
for.
But more often than not, the
individual comparison between the
two have become less significant due
to the presence of Lionel Messi and
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Neymar and Bale are considerably
younger than the respective stars of
their team and if there were no
Ronaldo or Messi, then the individual
battle we would be talking about will
be ‘Bale vs Neymar’
Maybe in a few years if and when age
starts to catch up to the two stars,
then we might still see the individual
battle between Neymar and Bale take
center stage.
#8 Football won't be the same
At the end of the day, when it’s all
said and done, football wouldn’t be
the same without these two.
Messi and Ronaldo have given us
plenty of brilliant moments to relish
for a lifetime. Putting all rivalry
aside, I am sure that deep down even
the fans of these players will agree
that the other is an equally good
player.
We are a very lucky generation. We
are very lucky because we have been
given the privilege of watching two
legendary players like Lionel Messi
and Cristiano Ronaldo play during our
lifetime.

And if **** and ***** had existed messi and ronaldo wont have been known lyk this

The battle between cr7 n messi for d ballon d'or started immediately the Fifa world best player n D French ballon d' or award were joined together in 2009

B

killercute16:
And if **** and ***** had existed messi and ronaldo wont have been known lyk this

Mikel and Musa?

horlabode:

Mikel and Musa?

Eh....iffa hear

God save messi and ronaldo that I was not given d
privilege to play football, I would av bn d controller of
ballon d'or u are talking about.
See me na, confirm utility player...
Winner of fresher's cup, dean's cup for my
department...
That one self do... u think say it dey easy







Merry XMAS & happy new year in advance to u all..

if to say i wan play ball eh, if nor be say i nor jst wan play ball ni, who for sabi messi with ronaldo??, na me for dey break all does records nd go dey collect all does awards with ballon d'or wey them dey share like say na them papa originate football so..... na mk dons i for dey play for. i go com b football don!

roland2rule:


God save messi and ronaldo that I was not given d
privilege to play football, I would av bn d controller of
ballon d'or u are talking about.
See me na, confirm utility player...
Winner of fresher's cup, dean's cup for my
department...
That one self do... u think say it dey easy







Merry XMAS & happy new year in advance to u all..

Nooooo wonder!!!!