Franck Ribery seemingly expressed his bitterness at missing out in 2013 after Cristiano Ronaldo's latest comments regarding the Ballon d'Or award.
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Ronaldo believes Champions League winner should win Ballon d'Or Ribery questioned CR7's latest comments on the individual awardFrenchman salty over being snubbed in 2013 with Ronaldo winning it that yearFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Ribery continues to express his bitterness over missing out on the 2013 Ballon d'Or award. The former Bayern Munich winger took to social media on Saturday to question Ronaldo's comments on what the ultimate criteria to win the Ballon d'Or should be.
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Speaking to reporters on Saturday, the Portuguese icon seemingly hinted that Ousmane Dembele should win this year's Ballon d'Or, despite acknowledging that Lamine Yamal, the other favourite to lift the accolade, has "no shortage of talent."
"The individual awards have lost some consensus; I can’t say anything about who should win. In my opinion, those who stand out and win the Champions League should win. But there is no consensus. I don’t believe much in individual awards because I know what goes on behind the scenes. Lamine could win, like Dembele or Vitinha, other emerging players… But individual awards are irrelevant," said Ronaldo.
WHAT FRANCK RIBERY SAID
Despite winning the Champions League in the 2012-13 season with Bayern, Ribery finished third in the 2013 Ballon d'Or rankings behind Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. "It was unfair," Ribery previously stated in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. "It was an incredible season for me, and I should have won it. They extended the time for votes, and something strange happened. I felt that it was a political choice."
Now, on Saturday, after Ronaldo's latest comments, Ribery took to social media and posted: "So you NEED to win the Champions League to win the Ballon d'Or?"
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR CRISTIANO RONALDO?
The 40-year-old has already ruled out the possibility of featuring for one of the clubs participating in the revamped Club World Cup, which begins on June 14. However, he can add one more title to his impressive CV when Portugal take on Spain in the Nations League final on Sunday.