Ranking the 5 best Ballon d'Or winning duos who were team-mates in the 21st century
Winning the Ballon d'Or is a massive task even if you produce strong performances, a thought which Robert Lewandowski will definitely agree to. Given the tight competition for the prestigious award, even the best of players fail to win it.
Sometimes it has so happened that team-mates are pitted against each other in the race for the Ballon d'Or award. Undoubtedly, it is a healthy competition to have in a team.
Ballon d'Or winners have been team-mates before
In the history of Ballon d'Or, there have been instances where teammates have ended up as the winner and runner-up in the competition.
George Best & Sir Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer & Gerd Muller, Karl Heinz-Rummenigee & Paul Breitner, Marco van Basten & Ruud Gullit, Van Basten & Franco Baresi are some names.
In this century, Ronaldo & Roberto Carlos (2002), Lionel Messi & Iniesta (2011), played for the same team while fighting to win the Ballon d'Or.
While such a scenario is possible, it is also true that individual Ballon d'Or winners would play together at some point in their career.
In the 21st century, there have been five Ballon d'Or winning duos who have been at the same club, not necessarily winning the award with the same club. Here, we take a look at five such duos:
#5 Pavel Nedved & Fabio Cannavarro (Juventus)
Both Fabio Cannavaro and Pavel Nedved were not forward players and given the trend, it was impressive how they won the Ballon d'Or individually. Cannavaro did it in 2006 while Nedved did it in 2003.
Cannavaro joined Juventus in 2004 after spells with Napoli, Parma and Inter Milan. The Italian centre-back, despite not being the tallest, was an important and reliable figure at the back. Nedved was with the Old Lady since 2001 as the attacking midfielder was an integral part of the Serie A side.
Fabio Cannavaro:
🗣 ”Among my teammates, I had legends like Maldini, Thuram, Del Piero, Nedved, Totti, Ibra, I also had Buffon. At sixteen, he was the Maradona of goalkeepers.” ⭐️ https://t.co/XsGF3gMT05
Both Cannavaro and Nedved played together for two seasons and won the league title twice. However, due to the Calciopoli incident, Juventus were stripped off those titles and relegated to Serie B. Following this, Cannavaro left Turin to play for Real Madrid.
#4 Kaka & Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)
The pairing of Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka was very lethal in attack for AC Milan. It played an instrumental role in bringing success to the club in the first decade of the 21st century.
With his clinical finishing and technical abilities, Shevchenko was a constant threat in front of goal. He was with Milan for seven seasons and won the Ballon d'Or in 2004.
Kaka joined the club four years later than the Ukrainian and stayed for six seasons. He won the Ballon d'Or in 2007, beating the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
That Kaka - Shevchenko link up 🔥 one of my all time favorite duos twitter.com/ChampionsLeagu…
Both Kaka and Shevchenko had good chemistry on the pitch. They played for almost three seasons together before the latter joined Chelsea in 2006.