The Gold Standard

As predicted, Europe’s distinguished football journalists have cast their votes for the 2006 Ballon D’Or overwhelmingly in favour of Fabio Cannavaro – captain of World Cup winners Italy, formerly of Juventus and now with Real Madrid. And they’re wrong. Badly wrong.

For the record, the top 10 positions were as follows: 1. Cannavaro 2. Gianluigi Buffon 3. Thierry Henry 4. Ronaldinho 5. Zinedine Zidane 6. Samuel Eto’o 7. Miroslav Klose 8. Didier Drogba 9. Andrea Pirlo 10 Jens Lehmann.

This prestigious award, established by the magazine ‘France Football’, is effectively for the European Footballer of the Year – which means that we are asked by these ‘expert’ journalists to consider Cannavaro the best player in Europe. Better than Henry. Better than Ronaldinho. Better than Zidane. Better than Eto’o.

It is, of course, ludicrous and people who really know about football have been queuing up to say so. Michel Platini said: “as far as the whole season goes, the strongest players have definitely been Henry and Ronaldinho.” Lyon manager Gerrard Houillier described the decision as “a scandal”, adding “compared to other players, he certainly didn’t deserve it”. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger called it “unjust” and “a mistake” which he believed was too strongly influenced by the outcome of the World Cup final. And France’s international team manager Raymond Domanech declared unequivocally: “Thierry was much more decisive throughout the season. I don’t understand it. He’s above everyone.”

You have to feel sorry for Henry. 4th in 2000. 2nd in 2003. 4th in 2004. 4th in 2005. And 3rd in 2006. No player has come so near so often, only to be snubbed. And this year, rejection must have been particularly painful when you consider that he was the outstanding player in the Premiership, a leading goalscorer and a prodigious goal maker, a Champions League finalist, a World Cup finalist and (not least) a much better player than Fabio Cannavaro.

If it’s any consolation, Thierry might reflect upon the fact that this award was voted by a group whose ‘credentials’ include the decision, last year, to place Frank Lampard as second only to Ronaldinho.

Enough said.