Having shared the last six between them, neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi have enjoyed a vintage year – but who among their rivals can break the duopoly?Let’s take a look at the runners and riders.Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina) – Bookies’ odds 9/4The case for: If you were playing a massive game of playground football and you had first pick, you’d still go for Messi. It’s been a weird year, and the overwhelmingly negative reaction to him winning the World Cup Golden Ball has – rather oddly – obscured the fact that he was excellent for the first few games of the tournament. He’s not as dominant as he was, but is that because teams now routinely focus their energies entirely on stopping him?The case against: It’s not as if teams didn’t know Messi was incredible before this year – but he just seems to have lost a little bit of spark. Judging Messi because of his failure to exert himself in the decisive stages of the World Cup is harsh, but that’s the yardstick if you want to be considered alongside Pele and Maradona as the greatest to have played the game. Perhaps more pertinently, he won no silverware of any description for club or country this season.The case for: Ronaldo compiled the most dominant season in Champions League history, scoring 17 times as Real won La Decima. And despite a disappointing Liga campaign, he continued to score better than a goal a game and took his second ‘Pichichi’ award. The World Cup was an obvious disappointment, though he can scarcely be blamed for that: he was not fully fit, and his supporting cast was desperately poor. Without Ronaldo’s heroics in the play-off, Portugal would not even have been in Brazil.The case against: The Ballon d’Or is an individual award but football remains a team game. Is Ronaldo enough of a team player, or has megalomania started to run away with him? His outrageous celebration after scoring in the Champions League final – a meaningless penalty with the result already beyond doubt - suggests he cares more about his own stats than the collective good. And while his World Cup failure had some mitigating factors, it was still a failure.(uk.eurosport.yahoo.com)Bakudaily.Az