Delight in Barcelona about Ballon d'Or shortlist (News Feature)

By Duncan Shaw Dec 6, 2010, 12:50 GMT

Madrid - There was delight in Barcelona on Monday because of the news that a Barca player will win the joint Ballon d'Or/FIFA World Player award for 2010.

All three players on the final shortlist announced on Monday - Spain midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi and Argentina's Lionel Messi - are Barcelona players.

The shortlist was announced on Monday at the headquarters of the sports daily L'Equipe in Paris after being chosen from a list of 23 players by football's world governing body FIFA and France Football.

For the first time, the Ballon d'Or award will be a combination of the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the traditional France Football Ballon d'Or.

This is only the third time that the three candidates for the award have come from the same club. This happened in 1988 and 1989, with the shortlisted trio all being players of Arrigo Sacchi's all-conquering AC Milan team.

The news that all three players on the shortlist are Barca stars has been greeted with delight in Catalonia.

Catalan radio station RAC-1 commented: 'This is really good news, and shows how important Barca is in in world football today.'

The headline of the website of daily paper Sport reads 'Ballon d'Or For La Masia,' in reference to the fact that all three players are products of Barca's famous youth scheme and all lived, at some time, in the legendary La Masia residence for young players.

The Sport website carries photos of the trio during their teenage La Masia days.

The healine in rival daily Mundo Deportivo on Monday was 'A Golden Trio.'

Mundo Deportivo asked its readers which of the trio should win the award. 71 per cent of them have opted for Xavi, 21 per cent for Iniesta and eight per cent for Messi.

In a similar poll taken by Sport, 64 per cent have opted for Xavi, 21 per cent for Iniesta and 14 per cent for Messi.

All three are extremely popular players amongst the fans, but the general sentiment in Catalonia seems to be that Xavi should get the Ballon d'Or because of his long years of midfield mastery and elegance - and because he has never received it before.

Messi won the award in 2009. He has enjoyed an excellent season for Barca - he was La Liga top scorer last season with 34 goals - but endured a frustrating World Cup with Argentina, failing to score a single goal in South Africa, and going out in the quarter-finals.

Iniesta scored Spain's winning goal in the World Cup final but has not been at his brilliant best for Barca in 2010, largely because of a string of niggling muscle injuries.

Only once has a Spanish player won the Ballon d'Or, Barca playmaker Luis Suarez back in 1960.

The winner of the award will be announced at the first FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 10.

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