Whose Time Is It To Shine?

I am sure you remember the dazzling 2006 campaign of Barcelona led by Ronaldhino, masterfully commanding his troops to another La Liga title and brilliant Champions League finals where they defeated Arsenal 2-1. He not only had the achievements but he also had all football fans and nations in awe.

He was not the only one. Certainly, Kaka's brilliant run against Manchester United in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2007 is still remembered; that, along with many others, without a doubt made him the best of that season. 42 goals in one campaign, as well as leading Manchester United to the Premier League and Champions League titles, saw Cristiano Ronaldo as undoubtedly the best player touching a football last season.

For all of who have played close attention to club football over the past years, one occurrence has been common for each year. What is that? Well, if you have not taken the time to notice, the team considered the best of the year in all of Europe is usually the team with the player considered the most outstanding of the year and usually ends up winning the Ballon D'Or as well (European Player of the Year). This is not so for the last mentioned Cristiano, but certainly he has a great chance of walking away with the title. Another thing they all have in common is that they all produced numerous crowd-pleasing performances, whether it is because of fancy footwork or defence splitting passes.

Perhaps those players above can repeat their feats, but for now let us look at those who have not outshone everyone else as yet but have what it takes to do so. The list is given in no particular order.

Lionel Messi
Club: F.C Barcelona

Already from the pre-season games, the Argentine talisman has shown that he is ready to take his game to the next level, scoring in Barcelona's 6-0 win over Hiberian and a hat-trick coming on as a second half substitute against Dundee United in helping Barcelona to defeat the 5-1. Being compared to some of the best, both past (Diego Maradona) and present (Cristiano Ronaldo) is not because of good hair but clearly because everyone knows he has what it takes to stand out in Europe.

Fernando Torres
Club: Liverpool F.C

Last season, 'El Niño' broke the record of the infamous Ruud Van Nistelrooy for most goals in a debut season and capped off an outstanding campaign by scoring the lone goal in leading his nation to European glory. Many are wondering if he can repeat last season's achievements but the consistency he produced especially in scoring in seven consecutive league home games shows that these questions may just be redundant. Will he be able to lead Liverpool to the only title that has eluded the club for over 18 years? Doing this would certainly put him in great contention for the Ballon D'Or.

Francesc Fabregas
Club: Arsenal F.C

Cesc was the mastermind behind Arsenal leading the Premier League mid-way through the season. He is the current Young Player of the Year, the title that was previously won by Cristiano Ronaldo and look at what he did a year after. He can produce a great strike of the football and is easily one of the best passers of the ball in both the Premier League and Europe. With help from his young but more experienced teammates this Barcelona youth product certainly has a good chance to make the necessary steps of the ladder to become Europe's best.

Alexandre Pato
Club: AC Milan

Even before he played in a professional match in Europe Alexandre 'The Duck' was already creating waves in the media. Dubbed to be the next best striker in Brazilian history behind the likes of Pele and Ronaldo, his potential had persons saying he would be able to score over 50 goals before season end (keeping in mind that he made his professional debut for AC Milan in January). Clearly, this was unrealistic but he did manage to have a record of a goal per every other match he played, nine (9) in all. Just 18, clearly he has decades of football ahead of him, but if he lives up to expectation he can and should lead Milan back to Italian and European glory.

Giovanni Dos Santos
Club: Tottenham Hotspur

This Mexican prodigy emerged on the sense after assisting in half the goals on route to helping his country to triumph 3-0 over Brazil in the final of the 2005 U-17 World Cup (individually winning the Adidas Silver Ball) and as a result, his emergence from Barcelona's youth academy was much anticipated. Since making the step up, however, Giovanni found it hard to hold on to a regular starting place in the team, even falling behind the Spanish starlet Bojan Krkic last season. This phenomenon prompted a change of scenery to enjoy regular first team football and Tottenham was the destination. Could he be the commander of the revolution Juande Ramos is trying to undertake? Is this where he is allowed to shine and prove that he is capable and worthy of being the best in Europe? Only time will tell.

Devaro Bolton