5 players who lifted the Ballon d'Or without winning the Champions League

France Football's prestigious Ballon d'Or has almost become synonymous with five-time winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, owing to their duopoly over the award in the last decade.

Of course, this changed when Real Madrid's Luka Modric was presented with the coveted prize for his contribution to Los Blancos' Champions League victory and Croatia's FIFA World Cup journey last year.

With club football nearing its end in Europe, predictions regarding the winner of this year's Ballon d'Or have begun surfacing in the media. Recently, Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero was credited with saying the winner of the Ballon d'Or should come from a Champions League winning team.

Although the Premier League champion has dismissed the quotes as false, much of the recent decisions regarding football's most prestigious award have been made with the Champions League in mind.

In the past, however, there have been an array of players who did not win the Champions League but went on to lift the Ballon d'Or in the same year. Here we take a look at five of those Ballon d'Or winners in no particular order:

#5 Ronaldo Nazario (1997 and 2002)

Brazilian icon Ronaldo Nazario was presented with the Ballon d'Or award twice in his career. The legendary striker won the prize when he was at Inter Milan in 1997 and during his stint with Real Madrid in 2002.

Known as 'The Phenomenon', Ronaldo established himself as one of the greatest goal-scorers in the game, winning several domestic and international titles in his career. Among the competitions he has won are the La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Intercontinental Cup, the Spanish Super Cup, and the FIFA World Cup.

Despite all his achievements, however, the one title that eluded the Brazilian was the Champions League. The closest the two-time Ballon d'Or winner came to winning Europe's most elite title was during Real Madrid's semi-final clash against Juventus in 2003.

During his 1997 Ballon d'Or win, Ronaldo did not even play in the Champions League, a fact that seems unthinkable in the present era.

#4 Michael Owen (2001)

Michael Owen was presented with the Ballon d'Or award in 2001 following a spectacular season that saw him score 31 goals for Liverpool.

That year, Owen almost single-handedly helped the Reds to a number of titles starting with the FA Cup where he scored a dramatic brace against Arsenal to help his side win the trophy.

The forward also helped Liverpool establish decisive wins over Premier League champions Manchester United in the Charity Shield and Champions League winners Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup.

Internationally, Owen's hat-trick against Germany in a 5-1 victory for the Three Lions at Munich was his most memorable game that year.

This, coupled with his 18 goals in the Premier League, led to his Ballon d'Or win despite not having won the Champions League.

The closest Owen came to winning the Champions League was during his stint with Manchester United in the 2011 final against Barcelona. Ironically, Liverpool won the coveted European title in 2004, the same year he left for Real Madrid.

#3 Fabio Cannavaro (2006)

Fabio Cannavaro beat Gianluigi Buffon and Thierry Henry to become only the third defender to win the Ballon d'Or award in 2006, having captained Italy's famous FIFA World Cup-winning squad and having led Juventus to the Serie A title.

The Italian played for the likes of Inter Milan, Juventus, and Real Madrid in the course of his career and won several titles like La Liga, the Coppa Italia, the Supercoppa Italiana, and the UEFA Cup. Despite having won a series of domestic titles, Cannavaro still failed to lift the Champions League crown.

The closest Cannavaro came to winning the coveted European title was during a semi-final between Inter Milan and rivals AC Milan in 2003.

#2 Roberto Baggio (1993)

Roberto Baggio won the Ballon d'Or award after a scintillating season for Juventus in 1993. The playmaker has played for some of Europe's biggest clubs like Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan but the number of titles he has won in his career is no testament to the divine gifts he possessed on the pitch.

The Italian has two Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, a UEFA Cup and an Intertoto title to his name but has notably never lifted the Champions League title.

Baggio was renowned for his vision in set-pieces, his free-kicks and his ability to dribble past players in one-on-one situations.

The former Inter Milan man is often remembered for his devastating penalty miss against Brazil in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, another title that eluded him in his career.

#1 Pavel Nedved (2003)

In 2003, former Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved became only the second Czech player to win the Ballon d'Or after Josef Masopust, for a season that saw him score 14 goals in 45 games in all competitions.

The midfielder helped the Old Lady to the Scudetto, but it was his contribution in the Champions League that was the most memorable.

Nedved scored five times in fifteen European appearances, including a decisive goal at the Camp Nou in the quarter-finals of the competition.

Despite having been a part of some memorable nights in the Champions League, the former Bianconeri star failed to inspire his side to the European title. The closest he came to winning the coveted title was during their Champions League final against Milan in 2003.

Edited by Zaid Khan