Barça ready to take Fifa's ball home

As the Barcelona players trotted from the field after Monday morning's routine session at their training complex ahead of last night's match against Rubin Kazan, three remained on the turf: Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández, holding a blue and red ball, while cameras flashed all around them to record the day that the three were named finalists for the Fifa Ballon d'Or 2010.

The prize this year rolls the Ballon d'Or and the Fifa World Player awards into one, voted for by the 154 correspondents of France Football magazine and the coaches and captains of Fifa's 208 member nations.

"It gives us a great deal of prestige. It's an amazing success of incalculable proportions, shared with the Spanish national team; with Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque," said Pep Guardiola. The prizes for the best player and coach of the year will be presented in Zurich on January 10. Guardiola is also in the frame for a gong, shortlisted in the coaches' section of the award with José Mourinho and Vicente del Bosque.

Guardiola: "I think Messi is the best in the world but Xavi and Andrés deserve it too"

For the third time in the history of the award, created in 1956 and opened to soccer players from outside Europe's borders in 1995, the three finalists are from the same team. The all-conquering AC Milan of Arrigo Sacchi filled the finalists' list in 1988 and 1989. Marco van Basten took the award on both occasions, joined by his Holland teammates Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard on the first occasion and Franco Baresi and Rijkaard on the second.

"It's an honor to be one of the three finalists, but even more so to be alongside Xavi and Leo. It's a great prize for the youth system," said Iniesta. "It's deserved because Leo is the best in the world, Xavi makes Barcelona tick and Andrés is a definitive player, as he demonstrates here and as he demonstrated at the World Cup," Barça defender Gerard Piqué added.

For many it is neglectful to omit Wesley Sneijder from the list after Inter Milan's treble-winning season and Holland's successful tournament in South Africa, where he was also joint top scorer with Diego Forlán and David Villa.

Messi won the accolade last year and is on the shortlist of three for the fourth consecutive year, equaling Real Madrid's Raymond Kopa between 1956 and 1959. But above all is Spain's triumph in South Africa: in the three previous World Cup years, a player from the winning side lifted the Ballon d'Or: Zinédine Zidane in 1998, Ronaldo in 2002 and Fabio Cannavaro in 2006.

It appears likely that Xavi or Iniesta will take the plaudits this year. In that case it will bring to a close a 50-year drought for Spanish soccer: the only native Spaniard to have lifted the prize is Luis Suárez of Barcelona, in 1960.

Iniesta is perhaps a nose ahead but it remains to be seen whether Messi will again be named the world's best, having scored 56 times for club and country in the calendar year. In South Africa though it was Xavi that guided his team to the title, won by Iniesta in dramatic style in Johannesburg.

In any case, Barcelona will match Juventus and AC Milan for the number of winners from one club. Joining Suárez in the annals of the world's greatest that have won the award at the Catalan club are Johan Cruyff (1973 and 1974), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), Rivaldo (1999), Ronaldinho (2005) and Messi (2009).

Real Madrid has six winners, Alfredo di Stéfano (1957 and 1959), Kopa (1958), Luis Figo (2000), Ronaldo (2002) and Cannavaro (2006).

"I think that Leo is the best player in the world, but Xavi and Andrés deserve everything as well. It's lucky that I don't have to choose," said Guardiola. "It's difficult to repeat a generation of players like this. They are on another level to others. If one day there are ever any doubts about our model [of Barça's youth system], we can look back and see this demonstration of a job well done. It's a great success for Barcelona and for Spanish soccer."