Ballon d'Or: 10 players who could have won if Messi and Ronaldo did not exist

Modified Dec 06, 2017 11:42 GMT

FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2015 — Ronaldo and Messi are undoubtedly the two greatest players of our generation

#2 Andres Iniesta

FC Barcelona v Real Betis Balompie - La Liga — Andres Iniesta has been absolutely vital for both Barcelona and Spain

Barcelona legend and midfield maestro Andres Iniesta is perhaps one of the few footballers who can genuinely claim to be as good and technically gifted as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

The Barcelona legend has won numerous individual accolades in his career. Iniesta won the UEFA Best Player in Europe award in 2012, and was also chosen as the Best Player in the 2011-12 Champions League. However, he has always narrowly missed out on the game's top individual prize, the Ballon d'Or finishing 2nd in 2010 and 3rd in 2012.

One of the greatest midfielders to ever play the game, Iniesta arguably played as much a role in Barcelona's success as Messi. Supremely creative and technically perfect, the Spanish legend is coming to the end of his amazing career and it is a tragedy that the genius of Iniesta's career has not been crowned with a Ballon d'Or award.

About the author

A Bengaluru lad through and through, Ashwin Hanagudu is a huge fan of Liverpool and unsurprisingly pledges his sworn allegiance to RCB in the IPL. With over 8+ years of experience in this field, Ashwin manages multiple verticals at Sportskeeda and as of July 2024 is the most-read author in the football section.

Apart from his duties at Sportskeeda, Ashwin Hanagudu is also an active table tennis player and has played multiple state ranking and national tournaments representing Karnataka.

A huge sports fan, some of the athletes and sportspersons he admires in no particular order are Virat Kohli, Steven Gerrard, Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu

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Edited by Amit Mishra