He's a Player

Its got to be somewhat about championships too don't you think, Messi hasn't won anything, and Ronaldo disappear in the Euros. I'm going Xavi even though i can't stand Barca.

Ronaldo may have been disappointing in the Euros, but he did lead Man Utd. in winning the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
Also, IMO, Senna was the best Spanish player in the squad, not Torres or Xavi.

Ronlaldo is the deserving player, hate him or not.

Ronaldo is wicked, but Messi is the total package. He's hard to hate while Ronaldo is easy to...:-)

08 went to Cristiano

Dadryan, with all due respect, Ronaldo is wicked in the air and Messi nonexistent. All other things being equal (which they never are), Ronaldo has one more serious tool than Messi (and used it).

Given that CR helped MU to the double, scoring 42 times, ya gotta give it to Mr Crumpled Ferrari, IMHO. (It's the wall's fault,...it wasn't back 10 yards....LOL)

Messi well on his way to next years award, though....

I don't understand why Arshavin isn't on that list after the year he had. How did Kaka have a better year? Torres won Euros but no club hardware.

It just seems to me that Arshavin's club success and surpassing expectations at Euros would have put him top 5.

I voted for the Ronaldo because he can total a Ferrari and walk away from it. If that doesn't scream "Player of the Year," what does?

it can"t seriously be anyone besides Ronaldo, unless they are going to punish him for being out the latter part of the year. his 2007-2008 season was perhaps the greatest offensive season in modern European football, and by a winger, no less. (you'll recall that ManU does have a nice pair of strikers as well)

to give it to anyone else is to cheapen the award and make it more about off the pitch behaviour and thoughts than on the pitch action. in a non-world cup year, you can only look at the best performer in Europe, and that's Ronaldo, hands down. in fact, he won a treble in 08, EPL, UCL and CWC. you're the best player on the best team in the world? you win.

and for the person who said Aravshin? are you joking? he tore up the Russian league. whoopee.

Arshavin also led Zenit to the UEFA Cup title by taking out Bayern Munich, Villareal and Rangers. He also made a great impression at the Euros. Compared to Kaka, I would say Arshavin had a better case to be nominated.

C. Ronaldo. No question. Messi? Not this year but his stoke is rising and Ronaldo's is sliding. I don't, however, know how Kaka falls into this?

stock...not stoke haha

Allright, I hear ya! See it's that easy to hate part seeping into my brain. Ronaldo is the man, but he needs to hang the hell up and drive...
Messi is no threat in the air, cuz he's short. Ronaldo's got like 6 inches on him and he's got like 2 years on him.
I guess calling him the total package is a little nuts.
I gotta say that Messi has better odds of becoming a football God playing for Argentina than Ronaldo has with the Portuguese. Only time will tell.
You gotta admit that Ronaldo seems like more of a little Beatch than Leo though, right?

yeah, what DadRyan said.

I voted Messi because I consider him the better overall player. He didn't score as many goals as CR, but he still scored a bunch and set up a bunch more. Messi controls a game, while CR is an individualist. Eye of the beholder, I suppose, but if it were just "best player on the best team" we wouldn't need to vote between various candidates.

Not a single mention of Luca Toni? 39 goals for in all competitions for Bayern? I will grant he was a disappointment in the Euros, but so was C. Ronaldo. At the very least, his name deserves a nod over Kaka and Xavi, in my opinion.

Sorry, Troy6, I can't let this go:

Messi controls the game on a team with Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Xavi? I just don't think that's true. Just the opposite; he really benefited from playing with them.

And yes, he scored a bunch and set up a bunch: 16 goals 13 assists in '7-'8 for his club. CR had 42 goals alone. That's more...

I love Messi but CR was better....

Xavi has had a better year than all of these. :)