Home » Football News » Four reasons why Luis Suarez deserves to be a Ballon d'Or nominee ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo
 
SPEED NEWS

Four reasons why Luis Suarez deserves to be a Ballon d'Or nominee ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 13 February 2017, 11:17 IST

"I'd have liked to be on the Ballon d'Or podium with Ney and Luis."

These words from Lionel Messi at the La Liga awards ceremony were not only a ringing endorsement of his strike partner Suarez, but also a tacit disappointment at Ronaldo being chosen ahead of the Uruguayan superstar for the final list of Ballon d'Or nominees.

After putting all the controversies surrounding his behaviour aside, Luis Suarez has hit sensational form for Barcelona. Here are the five reasons why he should have been chosen ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo for the coveted prize.

01
An integral part of 'MSN'

MSN -- an acronym for Messi, Suarez, Neymar -- is being called the greatest attacking partnership of all time. Luis Suarez forms an integral part of this partnership, taking his game to another level after combining with Neymar and Messi.

Suarez is one-third of a forward line which has scored 125 goals in the calendar year, more than the total number of goals that even Bayern Munich has scored in the same period. That is reason enough for him to have been included in the Ballon d'Or short list.

02
Important goals

Suarez scored the winning goal in last year's El Clasico win over Real Madrid, which decided the Spanish title. More importantly, he also scored twice in Barcelona's historic 4 - 0 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, which has put them in pole position to retain the Spanish title once again this year.

Quite simply, Luis Suarez has scored more important goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, at the time when they mattered the most.

Here is a clip of 'Luisito' scoring the all important winner against Juventus in last season's Champions League final.

03
More complete player than Cristiano Ronaldo

It has been a criticism of the Ballon d'Or ceremony, that the decision behind announcing the winner is only contingent on which player has scored the most number of goals in the calendar year.

So, while it is true that Ronaldo's goal scoring feats are astonishing and he fully deserves the Golden Boot because of them, the winner of the Ballon d'Or needs to be a more complete player.

Suarez has more assists than Ronaldo, and has been part of a team that won more. Despite scoring more goals in the La Liga and the Champions League in the 2014-2015 campaign than anyone else, Real Madrid ended up trophyless.

Luis Suarez, on the other hand, was part of a treble-winning side. He also has more assists to his name than Cristiano Ronaldo, and the nature of his goal scoring is more varied.

Football is simply not about the numbers, but about the details behind them as well.

04
FIFA's obsession with Ronaldo-Messi combine must stop

In the past seven years when Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been on the podium, it has been been thoroughly merited for both of them. At the same time, the media buzz that is created around seeing the two stalwarts together on stage is of astronomical proportions, bringing in a considerable amount of money.

This year however, the decision to have Ronaldo in place of Suarez seems commercially motivated, with FIFA not wanting to have the Portuguese superstar wait in the wings. This is further validated by the fact that Suarez's performances have been more complete than those of Ronaldo. The obsession FIFA has must be put to a timely end.

First published: 1 December 2015, 8:53 IST