TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Lionel Messi have won four Ballon d’Or award while Christiano Ronaldo won last year's award within the last five years. However, Manchester United manager Luis Van Gaal felt that this year’s Ballon d’Or award should not be given to any of the two players. He thinks that Germany’s World Cup winning squad should receive the award instead.
"The best thing to win is the World Cup so I hope it will be a German player because they deserve it," Van Gaal said. "In Germany, the level of the Bundesliga matches is also very high so I think it should be a German player."
Other than Ronaldo and Messi, several players were also nominated for the award that was handed last January, including Angel Di Maria, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Goetze.
Van Gaal himself is on the shortlist for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for taking the Netherlands national football team to the semi-finals of the World Cup although knowing that his chances to win the competition was small.
ESPN | NURDIN
