Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic reckons that a number of players from the Catalan club should have featured in the shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d’Or award.
This award is seen as the ultimate achievement in the life of a professional footballer, as it is awarded to the best player in the world. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been sharing the award for almost 8 seasons. Messi has nominated this mini contest with five compared to Ronaldo’s three titles. The 2016 award is likely to go to either of these stars, but the names on the shortlist evoke a lot of talking points.
The likes of Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard, and several other Premier League players have featured in the 30 man shortlist for the award. Despite Barcelona winning a whopping five trophies in the calendar year, they have found only the likes of Messi and Neymar, and Suarez regularly topping the list in terms of favourites to win this title. Rakiticfeels that the achievements of other Barcelona names like Gerard Pique should also be taken into account. The Croatian midfielder came to the club last summer and immediately was part of a huge success including the Champions League.
Rakitic, though, is not keen on seeing his name included in theFIFPro XI.“I accept that I didn’t make the XI. It's a football decision. I’m the first person who would like to be there.But I think after the season we did, more Barcelona players deserved to make the list. I am not just speaking about me. It is a motivation to keep working hard and to convince the people who didn't vote for us to do so next year. I am happy for those who were there because they deserved it. But anyway, I prefer to win collective awards,” saidRakitic.
