10 players who should've won the Ballon d'Or
The Ballon d'Or is arguably the most coveted individual accolade in the world of football right now. For the past decade, it has been split evenly between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, which is hardly surprising given the stupefying brilliance with which these two have dominated world football.
However, notwithstanding this, several genuinely amazing players were sadly overshadowed in the light of Messi's and Ronaldo's prowess and success.
Here we take a look at 10 players who should've gone on to clinch the coveted honour at least once in their careers. Since all 10 of these stars were undoubtedly gifts to mankind, pay no heed to the order in which they are listed. Also, my sincere apologies for any player that I may have missed:
#10 Andrés Iniesta
Words struggle to do this man justice in describing his talents and impact on the beautiful game. A connoisseur in his own right, Iniesta strokes out works of art with his performances on his pitch, his gifted feet doing the talking louder than his voice ever could.
Having graduated from the famed La Masia academy, Iniesta has won all the collective trophies there is to win; the FIFA World Cup, two Euro Cups, four UEFA Champions League crowns and eight La Liga titles amongst others.
On an individual note, Iniesta was voted into the FIFA FIFPro World XI for 9 successive years and has been voted into the Uefa Team of the year for 8 continuous years amongst several others.
Arguably, his most established achievement was the Golden Foot he picked up in 2014, but the Ballon d'Or always eluded him, albeit he came close in 2010, when he finished runner-up.
Iniesta is a legend of the game in every sense, the Spanish World Cup hero continues to draw the admiration of his own and rivals fans alike with his unquestionable flair, finesse, and humility and given his extraordinary career and accomplishments, it's cruel to think that a player of Iniesta's caliber was never given the chance to relish the Ballon d'Or.