5 of the biggest Ballon d'Or upsets in recent years

#4 2004: Thierry Henry

This might be a controversial call, but the whole thing is controversial anyway. While there is no denying that Andriy Shevchenko, who won the award that year, deserved it, what can’t be argued is Henry deserved it too. And slightly more than the Ukranian.

The Frenchmen had a stellar 2003/04 season, scoring 39 times in the process. In fact, he scored 10 more goals than the legendary Milan forward in that year.

The only thing that goes against Henry is Milan’s extended run in the Champions League compared to Arsenal. However, Arsenal managed to get hold of the Premier League and that too without losing a single game, which makes the overlooking of Henry even more absurd.

At that point of time, the legendary strikers of bygone days were at the peak of their powers. It was a thing of beauty to watch them fire on all cylinders. However, Henry’s car performed slightly better on full throttle than that of Shevchenko’s.