The Battle of Ballon Dor...

And here are my views on why I think Iker Casillas could be the second goal-keeper to win it! The Battle for the most anticipated title in the game of football begins. Like in the previous years the final contenders list mostly comes down from a large sheet of nominees to the most respected footballer in the world - Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. But there is a real leader, a national hero with a rare and homegrown talent who is very determined, respected and a successful person. That man is none another than Real madrid and Spain captain Iker Casillas. He can pose a serious challenge to other contenders for winning the prestigious Ballon Dor. Only one goalkeeper till now has won the Ballon d'Or award and he is Lev Yashin, one of the greatest goalkeeper in the history of this sport . He won the award in 1963. However, if there is going to be another keeper who can match this feat it could be Spain's Iker Casillas who had a spectacular year captaining Real Madrid with their La Liga championship title in the 2011-12 season with a total of 41 wins and 20 clean sheets. On the international duty he captained Spain winning the Euro Cup 2012 by allowing just one goal and setting a new record with playing most minutes without allowing a goal. Casillas made several spectacular and decisive saves for Spain on route to winning the Euro. Casillas, however, always performed when needed. He made a stunning save to keep out an Ivan Rakitic header against Croatia which could have eliminated the champions from the tournament in the group stages. And then he saved a penalty of Joao Moutinho which denied the Portuguese the psychological boost of taking the lead after Xabi Alonso had seen his penalty saved by Portuguese keeper Rui Patricio.
Brazilian football legend Pele also feels that Casillas should be given this prestigious award for his superb contribution to the sport. He said, "Usually it's attacking players (who win the Ballon d'Or), but for me it may be unfair to make such an assessment given that I have not seen all the games," "Still, there is no doubt about the performances of Casillas in big tournaments. This would be a good opportunity - the ideal time - to give him the Ballon d'Or. He has contributed as much as the forwards in their victories. You can have the best No.10 but it won't work if there isn't a great goalkeeper behind him. "I have been very important (for Brazil), I will not deny that, because I was a forward. But look at (Amadeo) Carrizo, (Lev) Yashin and (Gordon) Banks. People do not talk about the goalkeepers

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may be the main contenders to win the award. But I feel that because of his leadership qualities, composure and his ability to perform when most needed for both Madrid and Spain, Casillas deserves the award. He wins it or not but if given the award he may act as an idol for many other young talented goal-keepers. -Hemant Kandoi