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The great players that never won the Ballon d'Or

Football Iniesta, Henry, Buffon...

The Ballon d'Or always throws up plenty of debate when it's handed out each year.

There have been some controversial winners in the past, such as Michael Owen and Fabio Cannavaro, and some controversial losers.

Plenty of the game's greatest names have never got their hands on the trophy for one reason or another.

Some have questioned why Cannavaro was ever given a Ballon d'Or when two of his compatriots never received the award.

Both Baresi and Maldini arguably had more successful careers than Cannavaro, but that World Cup win eluded them.

"It's a scandal that Raul didn't win the Ballon d'Or," Francesco Totti once said.

That feeling was echoed in 2001 when, despite being the top scorer in LaLiga Santander and the Champions League, Raul was overlooked for the award by Owen, who had won the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and the League Cup with Liverpool.

The Frenchman was a world champion, Champions League winner, historical Premier League goalscorer and Arsenal invincible, yet he never got his hands on the Ballon d'Or.

Two of the pillars during Barcelona's incredible spell under Pep Guardiola were often overlooked by the man playing in front of them: Lionel Messi.

That was even the case after they both won the World Cup in 2010, with Iniesta scoring the winning goal for Spain in the final.

Casillas was in the running for the award after captaining Spain to World Cup glory in 2010.

As for Ramos, he may have won the award in 2014 for his crucial goal in the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid, but Cristiano Ronaldo stole the show afterwards.

The Italian is one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation and might have won the Ballon d'Or in 2006 after that World Cup triumph.

Bayern Munich's treble-winning side of 2013 produced plenty of arguments for some of its key men to pick up the Ballon d'Or.

Cristiano ended up winning the award that year, despite Bayern's historical achievements.

The likes of Andrea Pirlo, Steven Gerrard, Alessandro Del Piero, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antoine Griezmann are all household names in football, but none of them have ever got their hands on the trophy.

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