La Liga's sweeping success at the FIFA Ballon d'Or gala isn't necessarily good for football, says Gaizka Mendieta.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or award, securing 47.8 per cent of the vote, while Barca boss Pep Guardiola was named Coach of the Year.

But it was the composition of the FIFA/FIFPRO World XI 2011 that caught Mendieta's eye as it included five Barcelona players, four from Real Madrid and just two from the Premier League - Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic.

While the Revista de la Liga guest said the selection is a fair reflection of the quality of the leagues, Mendieta said the line-up does concern him.

"The Premier League is probably more competitive than the Spanish league, but the Spanish league has two of the best teams in the world - Real Madrid and Barcelona," he said.

"At the same time it is a bit worrying for football that two teams have nine players in the best team in the world. I think it should be more spread out in different teams."

Recognition

Guardiola was honoured after leading Barcelona to five trophies in 2011, including the UEFA Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup and the La Liga title and Spanish football expert Graham Hunter told Revista that the 40-year-old was a very worthy winner.

"These awards are the most comprehensive in the history of football; qualified journalists are the minority of the three types of votes, then you've got the captains of the 206 FIFA nations and the coaches too," said Hunter.

"So when Guardiola is honoured for his awards - and patently he was the outstanding coach of last season - this is professional and analytical recognition.

"While there will always be people who pop up in the voting pattern that will surprise you now and again, broadly you are getting the professional game saying 'these are our best representatives'.

"Don't think that it is only about trophies; the criteria include how you behave, what dignity you bring to it, what fantasy you bring back to the game.

"It's the most comprehensive awards in the history of world football and that means that this three who have won it can think themselves highly, highly honoured."

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Guardiola's contract runs out this season and has not yet been renewed, but Guillem Balague said Barcelona fans should not be overly-concerned at the situation.

"It all tends to happen at the end of January, the beginning of February - when he feels it is the right moment to say that he wants to continue, because that is what he is going to say: he wants to continue.

"He will leave when he feels that the team is not tense enough or is not committed enough and at the moment it is.

"But he knows Barcelona very well and the way fans think. If he said 'I don't know, I don't know' everybody is like 'please, please [stay]' - including players, so he knows what he's doing, as he says himself."

（一个慢牛）