Players Who Deserved The Ballon D'Or In the 21st Century.(2000-2019)

 

Winning A Ballon d’or  is one of the dreams that every professional Footballer would have. While lot of great players have won it once and some superstars have won it multiple times, but some Legends have not achieved this feat even at the prime of their careers but they deserved it at some point of their careers. Here is a list of 11 players who deserved the Ballon d’or but just could not keep their hands on it.

1.THIERRY HENRY(ARSENAL,FRANCE)-2003

                                  Thierry Henry was having a fantastic Season with Arsenal in 2003. Henry was not only a goal scoring machine in that season, he provided goals for the team by providing more assists as well.  The Frenchman netted 32 times in 55 Games for Arsenal and Provided 28 assists. And Henry also won the award for most assists in that year in Premier League.

Henry And His Group Of Invincibles After Win Against Inter Milan In 2003

 

                                      Whole Footballing world thought The Ballon d’or would be Henry’s but FIFA shocked everyone by giving it to Pavel Nedved. Nedved’s performances were not so Prolific, He just scored 14 goals in 46 games for Juventus that season and assisted only 3 times. He was voted mainly for winning the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE with Juventus.

2.XAVI HERNANDEZ (FC BARCELONA,SPAIN)-2009

                                    Xavi was a a beast in the 2008/09 Season. Bagging in 10 goals and 30 assists in 54 club appearances across tournaments. He along with his compatriot Andres Iniesta were simply ruling the midfield. Also Barcelona were untouchable that year. Barcelona won the La Liga that year.  Xavi was also very instrumental in guiding the Catalans to their first Champions league win in the twentieth century. He provided 7 assists and won the most assists award. So what more does a player need to get his hands in the ballon d’or?  But Xavi didn’t win it that year. Then who else could’ve won it?

Messi Stealing The Ballon D'Or From Xavi In 2009

His teammate and his good friend La pulga(Lionel Messi) stole the award from Xavi and Xavi finished 3^rd place behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

3.ANDRES INIESTA(FC BARCELONA,SPAIN)-2010

                                     Andres Iniesta, when we get to hear this name we only could see a man who is the central feature of Barcelona’s favourite, tiki-taka playing style. Along side Xavi, iniesta simply was ruthless in 2010. He was playing way better that 2009. And that year he absolutely won everything. He won the world cup with spain , and who could forget that goal he scored against Netherlands in the final of the FIFA world cup. He is not a prolific scorer but could catch up with one or two at the most crucial times. But Even when he helped spain to win the world cup he was overseen by Lionel Messi who was so disastrous in the world cup. But Messi’s club stats was the only reason that iniesta got the second place.

Iniesta As A Runner Up During The 2010 Ballond'Or

After that iniesta came close a few times but never won it. Now aged 36 There are no hopes of him even returning to top flight European football.

4.GIANLUIGI BUFFON(JUVENTUS F.C,ITALY)-2006

                                       42 years old and still pushing hard for Juventus.  That is what you can say about Gianluigi Buffon in 2020. But Buffon was once stated the best man at the goal for Juventus and Italy and even in the whole world. Buffon’s all time competitor was Iker Casillas but Gigi was way above him in 2006.  Buffon was unbeatable and so were the Italians in 2006.

Having the best goal keeper in the world at the goal in a world cup final is the best ever thing a team can have,like Manuel Neuer in 2014. But all these praisals are for nothing neither Buffon nor Neuer could get their hands in the ballon d’or. And no Goal keeper has ever won the ballon d’or in the 21^st century. The closest finishers were Gigi and Neuer(2^nd and 3^rd respectively). But none of them could win it.

 Gigi in 2006 was overseen by Fabio Cannavaro his Italian teammate in the 2006 world cup.  Even Cannavaro was instrumental in italy’s win in 2006 world cup he just didn’t deserve it.  The only reason that buffon was not given the ballon d’or was because juventus were playing in the second divison that year.

Buffon With Juventus In Calcio B 2006

  With Alisson being the best goalie in the world right now we could expect him to lift it in the future.

5.ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC(PSG,SWEDEN)-2015,2016

                                      Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the legends of the game. He is still a very good player at the top level of Europe.  He most recently returned to the Rossoneri and is looking to revive Milan.  But during all those playing years zlatan has given some stellar performances. But he could never win the most prestigious trophies such as the world cup and UEFA Champions league or the ballon d’or.

                                         Zlatan was nominated a few times but he could never make the cut.  But back in 2015 and 2016 Zlatan was never nominated but he displayed some stellar performances. In 14/15 season Ibra scored 41 goals and assisted 18 times across all tournaments for PSG. In 15/16 season he was more impressive He scored 50 goals and provided 18 assists for PSG. During both years Zlatan was the top scorer in Ligue 1.  In the 14/15 season Zlatan scored 10 goals in the champions league but he could not get his team the silverware.  In 15/16 season

Zlatan With PSG in 2015/16 Season

he scored 38 goals in the Ligue 1 alone.  But he was never nominated and was also not renewed by PSG. 

                                      So Zlatan deserved it in both years but can he get it now, at this age.  It is very difficult but GOD ZLATAN can do the impossible.