Of Liverpool’s three players who are international captains, only Martin Skrtel voted Anfield team-mate Luis Suarez to win the 2013 FIFA Ballon d’Or.
We wouldn’t dream of suggesting the slightest hint of nepotism or bias in the FIFA Ballon d’Or voting system.
Bearing that in mind, we present the below without comment.
Exhibit A) Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon voted for Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world.
Exhibit B) Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque voted for Spain midfielder Xavi Hernandez, and Spain playmaker Andres Iniesta in second place.
Exhibit C) Argentina captain and FIFA Ballon d’Or contender Lionel Messi voted for FC Barcelona team-mates Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Neymar ahead of his fellow finalists Ronaldo and Franck Ribery.
Exhibit D) Portugal skipper and FIFA Ballon d’Or contender Cristiano Ronaldo voted for Colombia forward Radamel Falcao, Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale and former Real Madrid team-mate Mesut Ozil ahead of his fellow finalists Messi and Ribery.
Luis Suarez clearly told his Liverpool and Uruguay colleagues to be as neutral as possible, and display absolutely no favouritism.
That will explain Denmark’s Daniel Agger ignoring Suarez entirely and voting for Messi, Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
It will also clear up why England captain Steven Gerrard voted for Ronaldo and Messi ahead of Suarez, and why Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez went for Ribery, Messi and Ronaldo.
Neither Slovakia skipper Martin Skrtel or Uruguay captain Diego Lugano got the memo though, with each voting for Suarez as their number one choice.
Suarez may not have been amongst the three finalists for the 2013 FIFA Ballon d’Or, but the way he is playing he could certainly be in contention for the 2014 award.
What’s more, with 22 goals in 16 Premier League matches for Liverpool this season, he is on course to claim the European Golden Shoe.
That’s some consolation prize…
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