2023-11-01 18:37:56
Source: AP 2023
Lionel Messi won his eighth Ballon d’Or in his career. The great Argentinean was ahead of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe in the voting, who, according to many experts and fans, also deserved this award in 2023. In terms of the number of Golden Balls, Messi broke away from his eternal competitor Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the most valuable individual prize five times .
Holland and Mbappe are still quite young, so they will certainly have the opportunity to win the Ballon d’Or in the future, because the Argentinean and the Portuguese are already leaving the big stage – they have left to finish their games in the USA and Saudi Arabia, respectively. But some other world football stars were unlucky enough to play in the era of Messi and Ronaldo and for this reason remain without the Golden Ball. We’ll tell you who came second or third following Leo and Cristiano in voting for the award in previous years.
Fernando Torres, 2008.
In 2008, the Spanish national team won the European Championship, and Torres had an outstanding season. The striker scored the winning goal once morest the Germans in the Euro final and was included in the symbolic team of the tournament. At Liverpool, Fernando scored 24 goals in 33 matches of the English Championship, so he was recognized as the best player of the year in the team, and the Professional Football Association included the Spaniard in the symbolic team of the Premier League season. Torres also performed remarkably well in the Champions League – six goals in 10 matches. UEFA also included Fernando in their Team of the Year.
Shortly before the Ballon d’Or ceremony, Torres reflected: “I used to think that the Ballon d’Or winners were footballers from another galaxy. And now I am named among the nominees. This is simply incredible. Winning this award is like climbing to the top of Everest and reaching for the heavens. My second life began in Liverpool. And she’s great.”
Source: AP 2023
In general, Torres had everything to win the Ballon d’Or. However, he only finished in third place in the voting. Ronaldo was the winner and Messi was second.
Xavi, 2009 and 2011
The current head coach of Barcelona, and in the past a brilliant midfielder of the Catalan team, was close to the Ballon d’Or several times. In 2009, Xavi took third place following Messi and Ronaldo. Then he won the championship and the Spanish Cup, as well as the Champions League, with Barcelona. UEFA included him in the symbolic team of the year and named him the best midfielder of the season. Xavi, without being a number ten or a forward, made 30 assists in the Spanish Championship and Champions League (including four in El Clasico with Real Madrid).
Source: AP 2023
In 2011, the three winners looked the same as two years earlier – Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi. The midfielder, wearing the captain’s armband, once more collected many trophies with Barcelona: he won the Spanish Championship, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup. His impact on the game was incredible.
“Although I was told a lot regarding it, I never believed that I deserved the Ballon d’Or under the existing Messi, who is the best player in the history of football,” Xavi was quoted by Mundo Deportivo newspaper.
Andres Iniesta, 2010 and 2012
It was a similar story with another Barcelona midfielder, Iniesta. He was also left without the Ballon d’Or twice because of his teammate Leo, and in those years when the Spanish national team took trophies. In 2010, the Spaniards became world champions, and Andres himself scored the winning goal in the final once morest the Netherlands. In addition, Barcelona won the championship and the Spanish Super Cup with Iniesta. FIFA included the midfielder in the team of the season. But in the Ballon d’Or poll, Andres came second following Messi.
Source: AP 2023
In 2012, the Spanish national team defended the European champion title, and Iniesta was recognized as the best player of the tournament. And at the club level, Andres had a very strong season: he won the Spanish Cup with Barcelona and won the award for the best midfielder of the championship. He was once more included in the FIFA Team of the Year. Nevertheless, the Ballon d’Or went to Messi, and Iniesta finished third in the voting behind the Argentine and Ronaldo.
“If you ask me if I would like to win the Ballon d’Or, I would say yes. But football was not unfair to me in terms of rewards. I’m very happy with my career and everything that has happened. For me, being a Barça player is the greatest trophy,” said Iniesta.
Franck Ribery, 2013
The next on the list of “victims” of Messi and Ronaldo was not the Spaniard, but the Frenchman. Ribery had a huge season with Bayern in 2013. The winger won the championship and the German Cup with the team, and also succeeded on the international stage. Bayern won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup that year. In France, Frank was named the best player of the season, and UEFA included him in its symbolic team.
Source: AP 2023
Ribery gave 23 assists in all competitions during the season, and in the German championship he became the best assistant and player. In the Champions League final once morest Borussia Dortmund, he also scored an assist. Of course, this was the brightest period in the Frenchman’s career, but in the fight for the Ballon d’Or he lost to the winner Ronaldo and Messi – he finished only third.
“It was like it was stolen from me then. It’s incomprehensible. That year I won all the trophies, I simply mightn’t do more. It wasn’t fair. My country did not support me. I witnessed the French saying that Ronaldo should win. Do you think the Portuguese would like Ribery or Messi to win? Of course not,” Frank was indignant.
Manuel Neuer, 2014.
Even the goalkeeper suffered in the competition with the Argentine and Portuguese forwards. In 2014, the German team won the World Cup, and Neuer became one of the brightest stars of the German team and the entire tournament. Manuel kept a clean sheet in the quarter-finals with France and the final with Argentina, and in the semi-finals with Brazil he only conceded the only goal when the score was 7:0, when his team stopped. Neuer was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA goalkeeper of the year.
Source: AP 2023
Neuer also excelled at the club level that season. His Bayern won the championship and the German Cup, and the goalkeeper had virtually every second match with a clean sheet – 15 clean sheets out of 31. Manuel was recognized as the player of the year in Germany. No one would be surprised if the German took the Ballon d’Or in 2014. But it turned out differently. The first was Ronaldo, the second was Messi. Neuer finished only third in the voting.
“For a goalkeeper to receive the Ballon d’Or is something special. Getting into the top three candidates is already a reason for pride. It is very difficult for a goalkeeper to do this. You can see for yourself how difficult it is for goalkeepers,” explained Neuer.
Neymar, 2015 and 2017
In the second half of the 2010s, Leo’s friend and former Barcelona partner Neymar came to almost the same level as Messi and Ronaldo. The Brazilian twice came close to winning the Ballon d’Or. However, in both 2015 and 2017 he became only third. In the first case, the trophy went to Messi, and Ronaldo finished second in the poll. And then, on the contrary, the Portuguese took the valuable award, ahead of the Argentine and the Brazilian.
Source: AP 2023
In 2015, Barcelona with Neymar won the Champions League, the Club World Cup, as well as the Spanish Championship and Cup. The Brazilian was particularly good in the Champions League, where he scored 10 goals in 12 matches. He sparkled in the decisive meetings: three goals each once morest PSG in the quarter-finals and Bayern in the semi-finals, another once morest Juventus in the final. In the list of tournament scorers, Neymar shared first place with Messi and Ronaldo. The Brazilian was included in the UEFA Team of the Year, and in Spain he was recognized as the strongest foreign player.
In 2017, Neymar became the best assistant in the Champions League. The Brazilian made nine assists in nine matches. I won the Spanish Cup that year with Barcelona.
The Ballon d’Or is a dream. Obviously this is a goal for me. But this is not the trophy that should be in my mind,” Neymar said in an interview with the PSG club magazine.
Antoine Griezmann, 2016.
In 2016, Griezmann came third in the Ballon d’Or voting. The Frenchman lost to the winner Ronaldo and the second-placed Messi. This was Antoine’s first and not the last time in the top 3: two years later he would once more be third, when the dominance of Messi and Ronaldo was unexpectedly interrupted for one year by Luka Modric.
Source: Archyde.com
Griezmann won silver at the European Championship with the French national team in 2016, becoming the best player and first sniper of the tournament. Antoine was recognized as the football player of the year in the country. And with Atlético, the striker reached the Champions League final, where his team lost only to Real Madrid on penalties in the Madrid derby. In addition, Griezmann became the best player in the Spanish championship, was included in the Champions League team of the season and the symbolic team of the year according to UEFA. But all this was not enough for Antoine to be named number one in world football.
“In the future I would like to have a museum where my jerseys and trophies are kept. To win the Ballon d’Or first at Atlético, writing myself into its history in golden letters, is my dream,” admitted Griezmann.
Virgil van Dijk, 2019
The Dutch centre-back had a phenomenal 2018/19 season. Liverpool, for which van Dijk still plays, then won the Champions League, the Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. Virgil himself took several valuable individual trophies. He was recognized as the English Player of the Year by the Professional Football Association and the Premier League Player of the Year. He was included in the UEFA symbolic team of the season and officially became the strongest defender of the Champions League.
Source: Archyde.com
In addition, van Dijk reached the final of the Nations League with the Dutch national team. In that tournament he was also included in the symbolic team. The year ended for the defender with a nomination for the Ballon d’Or, however, Virgil took only second place, and the award went to Messi.
“Messi is an outstanding player, great, fantastic. He wins for the sixth time. I was very close, but he was a little better than me. I’m proud of what I did last season. I never thought that I might win the Ballon d’Or. I have a completely different career, but I never gave up on my dreams,” Van Dijk was quoted as saying by Twitter Sporx.
Robert Lewandowski, 2021
The Polish striker deserved the Ballon d’Or back in 2020, when he won the Champions League with Bayern and became the top scorer in the main European Cup with 15 goals, but that year the award was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: Archyde.com
In the 2020/21 season, Lewandowski continued to score heavily. He scored 41 goals in 29 German championship matches and scored five goals in six Champions League games. He defended his national title with Bayern, won the Golden Boot as the top scorer in European leagues and was named striker of the year. In Germany, the supersniper of the Munich team was chosen as the player of the season. Robert would have won the Ballon d’Or if it weren’t for Messi. According to the voting results, the Argentine took first place, and the Pole only second.
Lewandowski said in a conversation with Wprost magazine: “I don’t hide it, I was disappointed. I had a feeling of dissatisfaction. To be so close to victory, to fight once morest Lionel Messi. I respect the way he plays and what he has achieved. The fact that I might compete with him shows me the level I was able to rise to.”
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