Xavi, Iniesta and Messi on Ballon d'Or shortlist
Xavi, Iniesta and Messi on Ballon d'Or shortlist
Xavi, Iniesta and Messi on Ballon d'Or shortlist

By Diane Falconer PARIS (Reuters) - Spain's World Cup winners Xavi and Andres Iniesta were joined by holder Lionel Messi on an all-Barcelona shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or announced on Monday. Iniesta scored the winning goal in Spain's World Cup final victory over the Netherlands in Johannesburg in July and, along with his midfield partner Xavi and Argentina forward Messi, helped Barcelona to win the Spanish league title. Messi had a disappointing World Cup by his own high standards, failing to score in the tournament as Argentina, coached by Diego Maradona, suffered a 4-0 defeat by Germany in the quarter-finals. Vicente del Bosque of Spain, the man who masterminded Spain's first World Cup success, made the shortlist for the Coach of the Year award along with Barcelona's Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho, who won the Champions League with Inter Milan. The winners will be announced on Jan. 10 in Zurich. The honour was formerly organised solely by France Football magazine but has now merged with FIFA's World Player of the Year. (Editing by Kevin Fylan; To query or comment on this story email [email protected])

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