This is WHY Messi should beat Ronaldo to the Ballon d'Or! Brother posts picture of Barcelona star swamped in trophies

Posted Friday, November 15, 2013 by Marca.com

Lionel Messi's brother has taken it upon himself to campaign for the Barcelona superstar to be awarded this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Voting closes on Friday for the FIFA prize and Matias Messi tweeted a picture of his brother’s trophy haul since 2009 alongside a graphic of Real Madrid rival's Cristiano Ronaldo’s from the same time period.

Bayern Munich forward Frank Ribery is the favourite however, to beat Messi and Ronaldo to the gong with Paris-Saint Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic also in the running.

This is WHY Messi should beat Ronaldo to the Ballon d'Or! Brother posts picture of Barcelona star swamped in trophies
Trophy haul: Lionel Messi's brother Matias tweeted this picture to spark a Ballon d'Or debate and a graphic (below) illustrating the comparisons between the Barcelona star and Cristiano Ronaldo

This is WHY Messi should beat Ronaldo to the Ballon d'Or! Brother posts picture of Barcelona star swamped in trophies

Meanwhile, Messi will spend the whole of December in Argentina as he tries to get back to full form and fitness for Barcelona.

The club announced this week that he would not play again until January 12 but it now seems that most of his time-off will be spent back in South America with the four-times Ballon d'Or winner flying back on December 1.

The news suggests the club want the player to totally disconnect having seen how an ardous summer in which he clocked up 120,000km in 64 days has taken its toll.

This is WHY Messi should beat Ronaldo to the Ballon d'Or! Brother posts picture of Barcelona star swamped in trophies
Fitness struggle: Lionel Messi has had a stop-start season so far because of inuries

This is WHY Messi should beat Ronaldo to the Ballon d'Or! Brother posts picture of Barcelona star swamped in trophies
Blow: The forward had to be substituted against Real Betis, and will spend December in Argentina to recover