5 controversial Ballon d'Or winners in recent years

The highly coveted Ballon d'Or accolade
The highly coveted Ballon d'Or accolade

#3 Lionel Messi (2010)

Lionel Messi for FC Barcelona in 2010
Lionel Messi for FC Barcelona in 2010

It's hard to argue against anything Leo Messi is winning these days, but back in 2010, there was a lot of discontentment when the Argentinian lifted the award. Messi scored 47 goals in 53 games through the course of the season to help Barcelona win the league title, but that was all that the Blaugrana won that term.

On the other hand, Wesley Sneijder was the undisputed king at Inter Milan who won the Italian League, the Domestic cup and the Champions League all in one season. He also pulled a pretty average squad of Netherlands to the World Cup final. Despite an outstanding run, Sneijder didn’t even feature in the top three of the list, with an all La Masia line-up occupying the podium.

The Argentine also preceded his teammate, Andres Iniesta who gave a magnificent performance in the World Cup and scored a decisive goal in the final which led to Spain becoming the world champions.

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