Ranking the Ballon d'Or winners of the decade (2010-2019)

#2 Lionel Messi, 2019

In what was his second-best calendar year till date, Lionel Messi became the first player in the history of the game to win the Ballon d'Or for the 6th time, as he pipped Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to the award in 2019.

Van Dijk, who was aiming to become the first defender since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 to win the award, was beaten narrowly by someone who the Dutchman had regarded as the best player in the world, as the Argentine won the award by the narrowest margin in history, with the difference being a meagre 7 votes between himself and the Liverpool defender.

The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo was placed third ahead of Sadio Mane was also subject to a lot of controversy, as the Portuguese international did not have a great season, at least by his lofty standards.

2019 Ballon d'Or 1st Place - Lionel Messi: 686 votes

2019 Ballon d'Or 2nd Place - Virgil van Dijk: 679 votes

2019 Ballon d'Or 3rd Place - Cristiano Ronaldo: 467 votes

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#1 Lionel Messi, 2012

FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2012

Lionel Messi is widely regarded as the greatest player to grace the game and this fact was exemplified in 2012 when he scored a staggering 91 goals across all competitions that year to win the Ballon d'Or for the 4th season running.

Records are meant to be broke in sport but this one will take some breaking, as the Argentine attacker took matters into his own hands upon will and seemingly destroyed every team that came his way, as Barcelona established themselves as a force to be reckoned with under the tutelage of Guardiola.

2012 Ballon d'Or 1st Place - Lionel Messi: 41.60% of votes

2012 Ballon d'Or 2nd Place - Cristiano Ronaldo: 23.68% of votes

2012 Ballon d'Or 3rd Place - Andres Iniesta 10.91% of votes