Men

Emblazoned across the wall at one of the Manchester City training gyms is the slogan “CREATE THE FUTURE.” With their massive outlay on player transfer fees, as well as over £200m spent on the Etihad Campus, a training and academy facility, the Citizens are hell-bent on global domination.

Funded by the seemingly limitless wealth of the Abu Dhabi United Group, the Sky Blues have become a dominant force in English football, winning the Premier League title twice in the last four years.

The defining characteristic of any tragedy is the inability to make any sense of it. Thus, the term "senseless violence."

We are led to believe that everything happens for a reason, and when a tragedy on the scale of the Paris attacks occurs we must all try and ferret out a reason behind the tragedy, be it spiritual, ideological or otherwise. 

Before we can move on with our lives, we must know why they have been affected so.

Since Lionel Messi went down with an injury in September (he's back now), Neymar has been a miracle worker. 

He performed one more miracle Monday, but not for Barcelona. The 23-year-old was selected as one of the final three players competing to win the 2015 Ballon d'Or, and his selection made a big difference for his hometown club in Brazil, Santos.

The finalists for the Puskas Award, the award for the best goal scored in a calendar year, have been whittled by voters from 10 down to just three.

One of those finalists was an incredible dribble goal by one Lionel Messi, who also happens to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or, given to the best player on the planet in a given calendar year.

The 2015 Ballon d'Or finalists have been announced, and the three chosen come as a surprise to approximately nobody.

The nominees, in case you live in a hole, or under a rock, or in a hole located under a rock, are Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr.

A much more interesting question than who would get nominated (we guess Luis Suarez had an outside chance at Neymar's third spot, but come on) is who will win. Will Lionel Messi receive his fourth, Ronaldo his third or Neymar his first? We break it down.

Neymar's astounding string of performances has managed to get him in the mix to be one of the top players in the world. Nonetheless, off-the-field issues keep the superstar's future very murky.

Cristiano Ronaldo versus Lionel Messi. It seems like the soccer world has debated these two for a millennia. It’s no surprise, to be sure, with the two playing for storied and rival clubs in Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively. However, the rivalry also extends toward sports marketing – and the heavyweights in soccer, Nike and adidas.

In a couple decades, soccer aficionados will debate the illustrious careers of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Heck, what are we talking about. Anyone who knows anything about soccer debates Messi vs Ronaldo now. It's practically an industry in and of itself.

 In 2012, Lionel Messi was named by Sports Illustrated magazine as the Best Soccer Player of All Time, beating out 160 players from across time and space.

Messi beat out the likes of Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and Pele. Cristiano Ronaldo had to settle for a distant 21st place.

As successful as Barcelona have been with the current Messi, there is no doubt that they are constantly on the lookout for the next Messi.

And they just might have found what the're looking for in Carles Aleña, a 17-year-old Spaniard who plays for the Barcelona U-19s and has already trained with the first team because of injuries. There is serious speculation that he could be the next big thing out of the academy that produced Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Xavi Hernandes, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Thiago Motta, Cesc Fabregas, Pedro and Sergio Busquets.