5 players who deserved to be shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or but didn't make it
Cristiano Ronaldo won the award in 2014FIFA recently released the 23 strong list of male footballers who will compete for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or. The usual suspects Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were joined by many of their teammates and other world class footballers from around the world or to be more exact from around Europe.Many names that most people expected to be in there have made the list, but surprisingly some of the top performers, especially few non-attacking players, are absent from the final shortlist.Here is a list of five players we believe should have made the 23 man shortlist for the award.
#1 Gianluigi Buffon
When veteran keepers like Iker Casillas are struggling to produce performances similar to the ones from their younger days, Gianluigi Buffon continues to be an exception as he has proved time and time again that age is just a number.
Buffon led Juventus through an amazing season last time around and kept 18 clean sheets as the Old Lady was crowned Italian champion for a fourth successive time. The Italian also captained Juventus to their first Coppa Italia title in twenty years and also to the final of the UEFA Champions League.
Buffon was instrumental in getting Juventus to the Champions League final in the first place and one of the highlights of his performance in the competition was in the semi-final win against Real Madrid. In the final, despite conceding an early goal, he was responsible for keeping Juventus in the game with some vital saves.
The Italian 37-year-old was named in the UEFA Champions League team of the season for 2014/15 and was also placed fourth in the polling for UEFA’s best player in Europe award and he was only behind Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez.
The Italian’s scintillating performance recently against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League was yet another reminder of how brilliant he has bee despite his age.