Lewandowski and 6 others cruelly denied Ballon d'Ors during Messi/Ronaldo era

Monday night saw Lionel Messi crowned as the Ballon d'Or winner for 2021 - his seventh such gong, setting a new record.

The Paris Saint-Germain player scooped the 2021 accolade to add to his collection of individual awards - two more than his long-term rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

The two players have won 12 of the last 13 individual awards - with Luka Modric's 2018 victory the exception - inevitably meaning that multiple other superstar players have been denied the trophy in that time.

It is not uncommon for the winner of the award to be a contentious one and this year was no different with multiple football legends criticising the decision to award the crown to Messi.

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was overlooked for the award despite breaking multiple goal scoring records in the past two-and-a-half seasons, where he has averaged comfortably more than one goal per game.

Lewandowski is the latest player to be denied by Messi's and Ronaldo's continued success - here are six other stars who have been denied deserved Ballon d'Or victories.

Wesley Sneijder

Dutch playmaker Sneijder had the season of his life in 2009/10 as his goals and assists inspired Inter to their Champions League title and the Netherlands to a third-placed World Cup finish.

Despite winning 14.5 percent of the vote to be crowned winner in 2010, he did not even make the podium - behind Barca trio Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

Sneijder's career was soon curtailed by injury problems but he was as good as anyone in 2010 and the crown would not have been unmerited.

Virgil van Dijk

Another Dutch star who missed out on the award, van Dijk's form peaked in 2019 - when he won the Champions League in his first full season with Liverpool.

He won 679 points in the voting system - an agonising seven behind eventual winner Messi - the closest race in the competition.

Van Dijk would go on to win the Premier League with the Reds but missed out on becoming the first defender to win the award since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006.

Manuel Neuer

A goalkeeper winning the Ballon d'Or is even rarer - the great Lev Yashin was the last shot-stopper who won the award, all the way back in 1963.

Oliver Kahn and Gianluigi Buffon both reached the podium this century but Neuer is arguably the unluckiest goalkeeper to miss out.

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Neuer helped revolutionise the role of the goalkeeper into a keeper-sweeper role and helped Germany to the World Cup title in 2014, but it was not enough to trump either Ronaldo or Messi into the top two.

Andres Iniesta

The midfield maestro twice reached the podium - second in 2010 and third two years later - but never lifted the main award.

In both years he was thwarted by then-Barca teammate Messi, despite his own role in the dominance of both Barcelona and Spain.

Iniesta played a key role in World Cup - where he netted the winning goal - and Euros winning sides for La Roja, but it was not enough to trump Messi.

Franck Ribery

The French forward had a tremendous 2013 - with his goal at Wembley clinching a famous treble for Bayern Munich over Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern were so utterly dominant both domestically and in Europe, while there was no international tournaments that year.

Despite that, Ronaldo won the award with Messi beating Ribery into second and the Bayern player was not happy.

Read more : Ribery's Ballon d'Or "injustice" as French public is blamed for Ronaldo win

He told German paper Bild: "I learned a lot during last year's Ballon d'Or gala. As soon as I got there, I told my wife that I would lose. I saw how Sepp Blatter was hugging Ronaldo and how his entire family was there.

"I'm not stupid. It was clear that he had to win it. He wouldn't have brought his entire family with him otherwise."

Neymar

The Brazilian made the podium in both 2015 and 2017 but was a distant third behind…yes, that's right - Ronaldo and Messi.

It had long been thought that the Brazilian was the long-term successor to that duo's dominance but he turns 30 this year and has come no closer to winning the award.

That is despite moving to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 to escape Messi's shadow, but the Argentine has now joined him in the French capital and instantly won the award again.