Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo believe that this goal from Glentoran striker Matthew Burrows against Portadown should have got the Goal of the Year at the Ballon d'Or Awards night and not Hamid Altintops goal.

It's the results of the Ballon D'or tonight with Barcelona trio Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta battling it out for the most prestigious individual footballing prize. Fact time then...

Michael Owen was the last British footballer to win the Ballen D'or (European footballer of the year.

Messi beat out his Barcelona teammates Xavi and Iniesta to scoop the Ballon d'Or for 2010. Messi was in sensational form Barcelona last season as was his colleagues. This is not the first time Messi has won this award as he was honored last season as well. This year the competition was even tougher as Barcelona did not clean up as in the previous season.

Messi won the Ballon d'Or last night he was named the best player in the world in 2010. Not Xavi. Not Iniesta. Not Sneijder. And not a single (Fantasy) Premier League player in sight. La Liga's dominance continues on ... Continue reading →

Leo Messi was wearing a dickie bow last night. Proof, some said with a smile, that he knew he was going to be awarded with a second successive Ballon d'Or – after all, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta were only in ties. But he didn't know: amid all the shock, the disgust and the pathetic patriotic paranoia, the man most surprised at Messi's award was Messi.

I am not only a football fan but I also enjoy reading a good magazine and looking at beautiful women. You can do that also in this month's edition of FHM, featuring Nicole Scherzinger. Yeah, I'm sure you know her, but you can also find a lot of other great articles. Find out more about that here: http://www.

Lionel Messi is being fined between €2,000 ($2,736) and €3,000 ($4,105) and will also receive a yellow card for wishing his mother a Happy Birthday. The Barcelona player celebrated his penalty against Racing Santander by lifting his shirt up to reveal an undershirt with Feliz Cumpleaños Mami written on it.

MADRID, Spain -Ballon d'Or finalists Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta scored to lead Barcelona to its 12th straight Spanish league win in a 4-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday. Messi played David Villa clear into the right side of the area before the Spain striker squeezed a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia [.

In a week that has seen the Christian festival of Epiphany come and pass, the world was reminded of the day that three very wise men from the East came and paid homage to an even more special baby boy.

Theology aside, the similarities bestowing the football world to this most sacred of Christian holidays can be drawn.

By Dominic Vieira, writing from Portugal

Tonight the answer to the everlasting debate is finally revealed in Zurich, will Iniesta, Messi or Xavi win the newly created FIFA Ballon d'Or? For the first time in 21 years the top 3 prizes will be awarded to players from one club, FC Barcelona.

Lionel Messi deservedly picked up the Ballon d'Or today beating fellow team-mates Xavi and Andreas Iniesta in doing so. To be fair the guy had an awesome year with Barcelona, however his World Cup was less spectacular than his opposition. It's Messi's second Ballon d'Or in a row having picked up the award last year.

Wir sind schon im Jahr 2011 und da wird es Zeit, dass man die besten Spieler und Spielerinnen des abgelaufenen Jahres 2010 kürt. Dafür hat man heute am 10. Januar 2011 auf einer große Gala in Zürich etliche Preise vergeben, allen voran den Ballon D'Or für den besten Spieler des Jahres und den Preis für [.

Choosing the winner of the 2011 Ballon D'Or seemed like a tough decision to make. Three Barcelona geniuses, all with a chance to be crowned as the best player of the world. Iniesta and Xavi had just triumphed in the World Cup with Spain, but Messi was part of an amazing season for Barcelona, scoring 43 goals in 57 matches.

Choosing the winner of the 2011 Ballon D'Or seemed like a tough decision to make. Three Barcelona geniuses, all with a chance to be crowned as the best player of the world. Iniesta and Xavi had just triumphed in the World Cup with Spain, but Messi was part of an amazing season for Barcelona, scoring 43 goals in 57 matches.

Barcelona's Xavi and Barcelona's Andres Iniesta pipped at the post In surprising news today, the nailed-on favourite to win a vote conducted by FIFA has emerged as the winner of said vote. It is difficult to build a case against Lionel Messi winning the Ballon D'Or, unless you were going to make the award entirely [.

The Guardian reports on Ferguson's opinion about foreign owners and sacking managers.

United Rant looks at United's January transfer window targets.

Studs Up responds to Ryan Babel's FA charge.

Dirty Tackle looks at the Ballon d'Or voting system.

The Chelsea Blog wonders whether Liverpool are dipping in their bin.

Lionel Messi thanked his team-mates Andreas Iniesta and Xavi after he claimed his Second Ballon d'Or in a row. The players drank Champagne on the return flight to Barcelona from the Award ceremony and were in great form.

Seems about that time of year again where we can get a decent look at the ESM Golden Shoe, which goes to the man who gives Ray Hudson the most pants disturbances.

At this point last year, it seemed that Wayne Rooney was running away with it...that is unless a certain Mighty Mouse named Lionel Messi could come good.

Waldorf and Statler, famous Muppets

There are still miracles in the world. Hungarian player Simon walked into De Kuip. Transfer free. Feyenoord tested him in several matches and is certain: the lad is better than PSV's Balász Dzsudzsák.

Mark van Bommel said he's sabotage the Ballon D'Or next year again.

The FA Cup third round games and the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool's manager dominated the football news in England, while in other news Messi was awarded the Ballon d'Or, the Asia Cup got underway and Inter returned to form in Serie A under new manager Leonardo. Check out languagecaster.

I called in sick to work this morning. I usually only get sick once a year so here it was. After finally managing to get out of bed I plopped down in front of the computer and pulled up the ol' Twitter box to see what was going on in what appeared to be a painfully slow soccer day.
Midway through the morning, though, the Twitter box started rocking.

This should have been posted last Friday but got lost in the shuffle. What do you think is going on in Greasano's head as he looks to his left and sees six little cules pose for the Ballon d'Or dream team of 2010? On the last La Liga Weekly podcast, A New Year And Copa del Rey Beginning there was some discussion on David Villa not being part of the Barca wolf pack as he was officially.

Es ist nicht Real Madrid, der FC Barcelona auch nicht. Manchester United wäre es vielleicht gerne, ist es aber auch nicht. Sind es am Ende vielleicht gar die Bayern aus München? Oder hat sich ein Neureicher Russe einen Fussballklub gekauft und ihn mit Geld zugeballert und so heimlich zum größten Team Europas gemacht?