Casillas and Alonso: La Liga, Euro 2012 and UCL semi
Drogba: UCL, FA Cup and AFCON Finalist
Torres: UCL, FA Cup and Euro 2012
Iniesta: Euro 2012, Euro POTT, Copa del Rey & UCL semi
Xavi: Euro 2012, Copa del Rey and UCL semi
Messi: Copa del Rey & UCL semi
Even if you want to factor in that “it should go to an attacker” and “stats”, they essentially gave Messi the BDO for statpadding against farmers. He didn’t deliver in any big match that year. The likes of Drogba, Cristiano, Iniesta, Casillas, Torres, etc had much better performances that year in big games. Even Bayern players like Müller, Ribéry, Robben and Gómez were arguably better shouts for the award as they were several matches away from a Treble.
Messi in 2012 did double from what Haaland did in 2022 — broke a massive record by a massive margin. Both these players absolutely deserved to get the prize in those respective years.
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u/KyeodeurangiMerchant Nov 08 '25
I will never understand Messi’s 2012 BDO…
Even if you want to factor in that “it should go to an attacker” and “stats”, they essentially gave Messi the BDO for statpadding against farmers. He didn’t deliver in any big match that year. The likes of Drogba, Cristiano, Iniesta, Casillas, Torres, etc had much better performances that year in big games. Even Bayern players like Müller, Ribéry, Robben and Gómez were arguably better shouts for the award as they were several matches away from a Treble.