Another wrinkle in the Lionel Messi or Crisitiano Ronaldo debate has been added after the Argentine was awarded the Onze d'Or for the fourth straight year.
The trophy is handed out by French soccer magazine "Onze Mondial." The magazine collects reader votes for the award for the ideal starting lineup (11 players) and of those 11 they see which player gets the most votes. Messi gained 47.45 percent of the vote while his Portuguese rival only garnered 27.95 percent. The next closest player was Colombian striker Radamel Falcao who only got 6.1 percent of the vote.
Other players who ranked high in voting were Karim Benzema (2.24 percent), and Must Ozil and Xavi Hernandez got 1.38 percent of the vote each.
With the fourth win, Messi becomes the player most decorated by the award as he passes French star Michel Platini who won it three times. Ronaldo has only won it once in his career, though he has placed in the top three four times.
Messi has gotten off to another hot start this season with six goals in five La Liga matches. That does not include an additional four goals scored in the Spanish Super Cup and Champions League. Ronaldo has only three La Liga goals but has three other goals from the Champions League and Super Cup. However, neither is leading the scoring race in La Liga at the moment. Falcao has seven goals in five La Liga games and is poised to give both Messi and Ronaldo nice competition.
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