With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been
devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the
press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is
destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in
terms of debating the winner, right?
Barcelona may be the treble winners last season. In addition, they may also be the side with
arguably the most potent attack in Europe, comprising of the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry
Henry, Bojan Krkic, and FIFA World Player of the Year hopeful Lionel Messi. On top of that, they
also possess one of the most powerful midfield combinations in the continent in the form of Andres
Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.
Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become the latest Barcelona star to egotistically
pronounce the treble winning club's's dominance over their global rivals. Following Sweden's bitter
loss to Denmark this weekend, where the spotlight was stolen away from him thanks to Nicklas
Bendtner's scintillating performance for the Danes, Ibrahimovic has taken his frustrations out on
former club Inter Milan.
With the first quarter of football almost over in most leagues around Europe, now is a good time
to measure the current progress of some of the giant clubs on the continent. Actually, analyzing
the success or failure of clubs in general won't be nearly as exciting as identifying a more
specific object of analysis.
