Both Bangladesh national team coach Saiful Bari Titu and captain Mohammad Sujan voted for Lionel Messi for the FIFA Ballon d’Or award that was announced in Zurich on Monday.
Messi won the award for the record fourth time in a row receiving 41.60 percent of the votes cast by national team coaches and captains plus selected journalists from around the globe.
Messi beat his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta for the renamed FIFA Golden Ball Award, which merged the FIFA player of the year with France Football’s Golden Ball (Ballon d’Or).
Sujan’s first choice was Messi while the second and the third choices for the award were Spanish playmaker Iniesta and Portuguese forward Ronaldo respectively.
‘I found Messi to be a better team-man compared to Ronaldo. Messi’s coordination with his team-mates is better than Ronaldo, who plays more individually,’ said Sujan.
Coach Titu, who is likely to lose his head coach’s position in the national team very soon with a Dutch coach already arriving in Dhaka to replace him, voted for Messi, Ronaldo and Iniesta chronologically.
He voted Spain’s Euro 2012 Championship winning coach Del Bosque as the best coach and opted for Pep Guardiola and Madrid coach Jose Mourinho as his second and third choices for the award.
‘If you see technically then you will find that Messi is fit for every position – up front, at the wings and at the middle as well. Ronaldo, on the other hand, is more concentrated at one particular wing,’ said Titu.
‘Ronaldo is also seen less efficient when marked by the opponent defenders but Messi becomes even faster when he is constantly guarded,’ Titu added.
‘At the same time I admire Del Bosque because he did the tough job of compiling the players from two rival teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona to bring consistent success,’ said Titu.
Meanwhile, the media representative from Bangladesh Raihan Mahmood voted for Messi, Ronaldo and Athletico Madrid’s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.
-With New Age input
