The end of the year saw any number of polls as to who is the bestest player in the world. Other magazines published their best XI of the year. That of prestigious newspaper L`Equipe raised a few eyebrows.
By a fairly general consensus, Lionel Messi was the best player of 2009. He won the France Football Ballon d`Or, which is widely recognised as the most prestigious award given to an individual player. And he also raffled the inaugural FIFA World Player award. Few people would argue with that. FIFA also published their best XI of the year, which contained John Terry as one of the best centrebacks.
But the end of the year XI in French sports daily L`Equipe raised a few eyebrows, not only because it contained 3 Chelsea players, but because they couldn`t find room for the most expensive players in the world today, Kaka or Cristiano Ronaldo.
L`Equipe`s XI of 2009 looks like this: Iker Casillas in goal, Dani Alves, Nemanja Vidic, John Terry, Patrice Evra in defence, Michael Essien, Yaya Touré, Xavi, Iniesta in midfield, and Lionel Messi and Didier Drogba as forwards. That`s quite a line-up.
It`s also not without controversy. Several of the names on the list would be without dispute: Alves, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Vidic, Casillas: you could make quite an easy case for them being the best in their position. The arguments for John Terry and Patrice Evra might be a little lengthier, but that is not an outlandish view. Is Evra better than Ashley Cole, for instance?
Michael Essien as one of the 4 best midfielders in the world? Us Chelsea fans know that, but would others be prepared to accept it? It`s all the more surprising that Essien was out injured for the first months of 2009, not to mention the last month. We just hope that he comes back from the African Cup of Nations without any kind of knock.
Chelsea`s upsurge at the beginning of the year began with Guus Hiddink returning order to the mess created by Phil Scolari. It also coincided with Michael Essien`s return. Chelsea`s slip-up in December could be partly attributed to Essien`s absence. He`s a rock in midfield, both as the 'Makelele` but also going forward. Yes, his place in the world`s best is deserved. Liverpool fans can froth at the mouth, but here`s the thing: Michael Essien eats asparagus and then micturates on Ickle Stevie Gerrard MoTM MBE. From the top of that building just opened in Dubai. Fact.
Didier Drogba in that list? Well, right now, is there a better forward in the world? No really? Fernando Torres could be said to be not a bad striker, but he`s been out much of the season. Plus he plays in a team that has forgotten what silver smells like. Right now, for the beginning of the 2009-2010 season, Drogba is the best striker in England (his numbers attest to that), so there is a strong case to be made for him being in the world`s best.
So there you have it: L`Equipe have 3 Chelsea players as the world`s best. Logically they have 5 Barça players, but only two from ManU? That`s despite Chelsea having won less last year than Siralex`s lot. Hand on my heart, I`d say that that`s quite generous. Even if the players in question are outstanding.
But the real talking point is the absence of both Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo from this list. CR96, after all, came second in the Ballon d`Or and the FIFA World Player award. How come he didn`t make l`Equipe`s listing?
Let`s say straight off: both absences are fully justified. CR96 had an average season at ManU last year (even though the club didn`t do badly). Since he joined Real Madrid, the most noteworthy thing he`s done is to be presented in front of 80,000 muppets and to hog the headlines because of his €96 million transfer fee. As a player, he`s banged in a few, but he`s also created a Ronaldo-dependency as real Madrid has been redesigned to let their show-pony shine. L`Equipe is expressing dismay at the fact that football has been reduced to this.
In fact, so strongly did they feel about Ronaldo not being worthy of inclusion that they considered that Samuel Eto`o was the third best striker, CR96 was only the fourth. Needless to say the Madrid press felt that this was a vicious snub.
A similar blow was delivered to Kaka, once widely considered as one of the finest central midfielders of his generation. But his move to Madrid generated headlines but little else: the Brazilian evangelist`s decline has been noticed even by the Madrid press. Xabi Alonso has been garnering far more plaudits from the centre of the park.
Above all, L`Equipe was sanctioning a certain type of football. Praise for Barça is all the most justified as most of the players in the list (Xavi, Iniesta, Messi) were entirely homegrown. L`Equipe is a serious paper, not a trashy tabloid like 'Marca` and 'As`. It perpetuates a tradition of trying to write about sport in a non-partisan manner and with intelligence. They have therefore criticised the obscene amounts of money splashed out by megalomaniac Madrid President Florentino Perez, and the collection of star players like Panini stickers, with no thought of balance or teamwork. For instance the Ballon d`Or is considered the most prestigious award for a player, everybody has noticed that one Real Madrid player has ever won the award as a Madrid player, contrary to the Florentino Perez way of buying players after they`ve won the award (of which there have been 13).
That`s why L`Equipe felt that Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka was not worthy of inclusion in their 2009 best XI. That John Terry, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien were deemed worthy is testament to the Chelsea players` qualities.
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