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Franck Ribery – 2013
In what was one of the most closely contested podiums for Ballon d’Or, Cristiano Ronaldo ended up winning the coveted prize thereby ending Messi’s 4 consecutive wins. As with the case of Sneijder, Ribery won the treble with Bayern Munich. In yet another case of confusing Ballon d’Or voting, Ribery came only third behind Ronaldo and Messi.
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What more surprising is the fact, Real Madrid went trophy less that season. The argument placed forward in favour of Ronaldo is his contribution individually, scoring 66 goals that season in 56 matches, followed by his contribution in Portugal’s run in world cup qualifiers.
After two consecutive Bundesliga seasons where high flying Borussia Dortmund under Jurgen Klopp pipped the record champions Bayern Munich, 2012-13 season was all about redemption. Bayern just lost only one match the entire season in Bundesliga scoring 98 goals and conceding a meager 18 goals and won their 23rd league title by a margin of 25 points over second placed Dortmund.
Ribery notched up 15 assists and 10 goals that particular season in Bundesliga alone. One of the most notable performance in Champions League by Bayern was the complete domination of Barcelona resulting in 7-0 over both the legs. Ribery’s contribution defensively over Barcelona was applauded by the plaudits and was instrumental in Final against Dortmund by setting up the Robben’s winner to win the Champions league 2-1 over their arch-rivals.
Bayern defeated Stuggart to win their DFB pokal thereby completing the treble and becoming first German team to achieve the feat. Ribery notched up 22 goals and 18 assists that season in all competitions while contributing defensively with 49 tackles with a success rate of 89.1%. Ribery also won the UEFA player of the season award for his contributions. To this date it remains a mystery on how Ribery missed out on winning the 2013 Ballon d’Or. Jupp Heynekes won the best coach award that year with more than 55% of the votes.
