Does Messi deserve it?

"It's the third time I've won it. It's just an amazing honour. I want to thank everyone that's been involved with me, my teammates, trainers, physiotherapists, the coach (Pep Guardiola) and everyone at Barcelona. I’d also like to thank the Argentina national team as well." Lionel Messi’s victory speech in Zurich, at his coronation as king of world football 2012.

At just 24 years of age, Barcelona and Argentina’s Lionel Messi was voted Fifa World Player of the Year for a third consecutive year. This is the most prestigious title in football. Messi beat Barcelona teammate Xavi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo to the prestigious title.

Some think that there really was very little suspense about whether Messi would be voted as the world’s best; after a year that saw him spearhead Barcelona to several major titles – the la Liga title in Spain, the World Clubs Cup, the European Champions League trophy, the Spanish Super Cup and the European Super Cup. That adds up to five major titles in 12 months and over 50 goals.

Xavi, Messi’s teammate who was voted third best player on the planet, said, "He's still young and I think he's going to break all the records that exist in this sport. He's going to be one of the best footballers in the history of the sport.”

Messi’s Critics, however, feel that he does not deserve this crown more than Cristiano Ronaldo.

This school of thought believes that he is the quickest player in the world on the ball but not the best all rounder as a player.

The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is better with aerial balls (scores more goals than Messi by heading), scores more free kicks than Messi, makes better use of both feet as a player (shoots from a distance more effectively with his weaker foot than Messi) and in all has scored more goals in the year 2011 than Messi (54 to Messi’s 53) makes him more deserving. Also, most of the goals Ronaldo scores are “hard-worked” goals.

Ronaldo, they believe, lacks the privileges Messi enjoys at Barcelona; privileges like Xavi, Iniesta and Pedro. At Real Madrid, Ronaldo is pretty much on its own. The team depends on him. Ronaldo has not got the luxury of that much free space, because Real Madrid has people like Khedira, Maria and Otzil instead of Xavi, Iniesta and Pedro.

In short, the Barcelona opponents cannot afford to put all their concentration on stopping just Messi, because the other Barcelona players will hurt them. Madrid’s opponents can concentrate their force on stopping Ronaldo. That said, he still scored more goals than Messi in 2011.

Messi has only performed in one league, one club and one system. He is relatively less influential for his national team than Ronaldo. He has to prove himself in another system to get that title of the best in the world. Ronaldo has done that already, thanks to his Manchester United Experience.

That said, I honestly believe Messi deserves this award. It is an award by the national team captains, national coaches and national journalists, so it’s unfair to dispute the people’s choice. On the occasions they have come head to head against one another, Messi delivered while Ronaldo did not. The wasted chances in the recent "El clasico" come to mind.

The legendary Dutchman, Johan Cruijff, sees Messi winning at least four more of this award before his retirement, judging by his age and talent. I would not want to bet against that, coming from a legend like Cruijff. Would you?