World Football: Wesley Sneijder, the Victim of a Barcelona-Biased World

Some days from now FIFA will declare who they thought was the best player in the world, and schockingly, FIFA and France Football nominated three Barça players:

Iniesta, Xavi and Messi.

All three have enjoyed great success in recent years, but if we consider that this trophy is awarded to the best player of the year, I'd doubt if many fans would actually agree on this short list.

As far as I am concerned, I would only keep two players in this list:

Xavi Hernandez, my personal bet for the win, and Andres Iniesta.

Well, getting back to the point, Messi is alongside Ronaldo the biggest talent out there, but he lost the Champions League in the semifinals (this will be important later on) and he underperformed in the World Cup.

His best year was 2009, not 2010, and people need to understand that Messi was not the star in 2010, nor was Barcelona.

Just last year, Inter Milan replicated Barça's performance by winning the Serie A, the Italian Cup and the Champions League, eliminating the Catalans in the process.

How could FIFA, the media and fans alike, forget the performances of Sneijder, Diego Milito and Maicon in such a small period of time?

The playmaker orchestrated a treble-winning side and a World Cup finalist that was beaten in the last four minutes of overtime.

Just look at what he did this past season:

In the Serie A, he scored only four goals—still, those four goals were scored mostly in matches that Inter won by the minimal difference of one goal, proving how decisive he was in a title run that was played to the last second. He was widely considered, among Diego Milito, as the best player in the Italian League.

In the Champions League, Sneijder was instrumental in their run, scoring and assisting in decisive matches like the first leg match against Barça. He was named the best midfielder in the competition ahead of both Xavi and Iniesta.

The cherry on top of the cake came with the World Cup.

Sneijder made a campaign that Messi could only dream of. He scored five goals, which were decisive in Holland's wins over Japan, Slovakia, Brazil and Uruguay, since the Netherlands had won these games again by the minimal margin.

On top of that, Sneijder was awarded the Man of the Match title in all of these four games.

(Not to mention the fact that he married Yolanthe Van Kasbergen.)

If you find a better season profile for 09-10, please tell me. 

Milito and Maicon could have been left out because the first one did not have a great impact in the roster and the latter failed to get through the quarterfinals, but leaving Milito out of the top 23 is ridiculous.

The fans are also starting to get annoying with their typical debates. Nowadays, it seems to be taken as an evident truth that Leo Messi is the best player in the world.

For many, Ronaldo is not even a top-three player because he chokes in major games and Messi obviously doesn't, since he had a brilliant World Cup and won the Champions League again.

I am not going to discuss this, but by the end of the day, both Messi and Ronaldo have been given almost the same awards. 

Many people like to forget, that last year Inter Milan was as unbeatable as Barcelona in the Champions League, and before Barça won the Champions League, Manchester United had posted an unforgettable run.

It has become somewhat of a dogma to put Barcelona head and shoulders over the rest of the football world, which hurts the truth of the news and the opinion of the fans and has led to the elimination of critical thought in this football section.

Everyone who does not agree that Messi is the best player on the world Barça are the best club side in the world will be tormented, and with no good reason.

Bias should not cross common sense and logical arguments, and as far as I am concerned, Sneijder and Inter Milan were far better than anyone else in the world in this past season.

Really, FIFA should try the unbiased path someday.

And when Xavi, Messi or Iniesta get up to the stage to receive their award, don't be surprised if someone says:

"Imma let you finish, but Wesley Sneijder had one of the best seasons of all-time... all-time!"