3 players who should have won the Ballon d’Or

#2 Franck Ribery

ACF Fiorentina v SS Lazio - Serie A

Currently, the 36-year-old plies his trade with Italian side Fiorentina, but before he left Germany, Franck Ribery managed to win 24 trophies at Bayern Munich - a club record. Perhaps more discussed and enderaring to footballing fans was Ribery's attacking partnership with fellow winger Arjen Robben. Robbery was everything most managers dreamed they could work with, and the last decade at Munich saw the duo produce highly entertaining football.

Robben may have missed out entirely on the shortlist of the 2013 nominations for the Ballon d'Or, but Ribery had a much higher chance of winning it. As we know, the award went to Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi came second place, while Ribery had to make do with third.

The decision did not sit well with the Frenchman at the time, and he has remained outspoken about his 'disgust' ever since. Calling it a terrible injustice, Ribery explained that he had nothing to envy Ronaldo or Messi for, as he was a driving force in Bayern's quadruple successes that year.

Famously, he told L'Equipe earlier this year:

I saw myself as the Ballon d'Or. It's the truth. Even today, I think I deserved it. I still haven't digested it. I did everything to have it. I ticked all the boxes. I won all I could win with Bayern. I couldn't do better! I did a very, very, very big personal year.

Perhaps it was Ronaldo's 66 goals in 56 games for Real Madrid and Portugal that year, but whatever it was, Ribery is yet to win the Ballon d'Or, and his chances of doing are now very dim.