Franck Ribéry was robbed of a Ballon d'Or in 2013. [A thread].

As so many people claim that he deserved to win, there is another part of the fans who think he didn't deserve to win because he scored less goals than Ronaldo. Therefore I decided to do a "debunk" thread.

First off let's begin with Messi, Ronaldo, and Ribery in comparison, what major trophies did they win and what individual awards did they win. The next tweets will be about all the 3 players clutch goals/assists in 2013.

Leo Messi clutch goals/assists in 2013

-Two goals against Milan in UCL in 2nd leg
-4 goals vs Osasuna in La Liga
-2 goals vs Granada in a 1-2 away win
-2 goals, 1 assist vs Rayo
-3 goals vs Ajax
-2 goals vs Milan
-3 goals vs Valencia in La liga

CR7
-2 goals vs ManU over both legs
-3 goals vs Sevilla & Getafe
-2 goals, 1 assist vs Bilbao in Laliga
-2 goals vs Celta in a 1-2 away win
-2 goals, 2 assists vs Getafe
-2 goals vs Elche on a 1-2 away win
-3 goals, 1 assist vs Sevilla
-3 goals, 1 assist vs Galatasaray

Franck Ribery
-2 goals, 2 assists vs Monchengladbach
-2 assists vs Augsburg
-2 assists vs Barcelona in 2nd leg
-1 assist vs Dortmund UCL final (winning goal)
-1 goal vs Chelsea Super Cup
-1 goal vs Guangzhou Club World Cup
-2 goals, 2 assists vs Bremen
-1 goal vs Man City

And, since are people are way too obsessed with statistics nowadays, here are some statistical tables, on Ribery, Ronaldo & Messi in 2013 seen in the view of statistics. In the second picture, Ribery had more key passes and more dribbles completed per game than Messi and Ronaldo

If we look at the clutch goals & assists, it looks like CR7 had scored a lot of goals, mostly in La Liga, a competition where they finished 3rd. Was that enough to match Ribery's importance in a bigger stage that earned him a Ballon d'Or? Ribery aint a goalscorer, he's a creator

Different from Messi & Ronaldo, Ribery operates a bit deeper on flanks and not too much forward. Ribery also acted mostly as a maestro in the far side therefore he also has registered way more chances created + more assists. Ribery was also good at defending, unlike Messi/Ronaldo

Maybe Ribery had less goals than CR7/Messi, but that doesn't mean he wasn't important to Bayern at all. CR7 helped Madrid to reach the semis, finished 3rd in La Liga, Ribery helped the team to 5 trophies, by also scoring/assisting in it. Therefore he also won the UEFA Best player

It's unfair to compare the players only in terms of goalscoring, Ballon d'Or was never about just goals. There were dozens of players who weren't forwards but won the Ballon d'Or without scoring goals. To name, Yashin, Beckenbauer(2x), Sammer, Zidane, Matthäus, Cannavaro, etc.

It's ridiculous to measure a player's contribution only by goals. Ribéry was part of arguably the greatest Bayern in history. All the individual & team awards he won, speak for themselves. He didn't win them by doing nothing, he took part in winning them, he won them, simple!

There is another myth raised by CR7 fans, saying that Robben was much better than Ribéry that year & should have had a place in the BDor top 3. This statement is absolutely ignorant & shows the little knowledge of these fans about Bayern, only & only to downgrade Ribery's merits.

Robben wasn't even starting for Bayern in 2013. It was Müller who was preferred over Robben in the RW, until Kroos got injured in April & Müller shifted to AM with Robben RW. Robben also struggled with the injuries and didn't play much either for an amount of matches.

Going back to "Ronaldo had more goals" bs. Let's check who were the top goalscorers in the previous years. And let's see if those goalscorers actually won the Ballon d'Or. Since Ronaldo fans and some people think goals determine a lot to win the award.

We have Cavani, Lewy, Messi. They were the highest goalscorers of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; why didn't they win the BDOR since goals are apparently more, important important? Lewandowski was still ranked 8th in the Ballon d'Or ranking in 2019 despite being the year's top goalscorer

Lewandowski was the top scorer of 2019, why didn't he win Ballon d'Or? Since the "Ballon dor is about goals!!11!11" agenda is being thrown up instantly to defend your favorite player? We Bayern fans werent angry for Lewy not winning it, we arent that spoilt as CR7/Messi fanboys

The last thing I wanna talk about is the most scandalous decision in history. FIFA's voting deadline extension. Never, in the history of the Ballon d'or, has happened that the deadline of the vote is changed in the last min. This was the ONLY time that happened, in 5 decades!

And they did it, RIGHT AFTER Ronaldo scored a hattrick against Sweden to qualify Portugal to the World Cup, and this whole event alone gained too much attention that it was 100% decisive. Tell me, how obvious can it be that it was rigged, by just extending the voting deadline?

Look at these screenshots as well. It was a total scandal! Coaches had their Ballon d'or votes completely rigged, different from what they voted, even the journalists who were chosen to vote, admitted it was just a farce by FIFA.
It can't be more obvious!

Is Ballon dor an individual award? Yes, it highlights the importance, the contribution of a player for big trophies during 1 year. It doesn't highlight only the goals scored. Because if it was any player other than Messi/CR7 scoring similar stats, he'd never win that. Clearly.

If Ronaldo scored goals that would actually help RMA win big trophies, he would have definitely deserved the Ballon d'Or. But, remember, Leo Messi won the Golden Boot and IFFHS Best Goalscorer award in 2013, so this is also debatable whether Ronaldo was "the best" goalscorer...

... considering that Leo Messi also missed many games due to injuries in the second half of the season.

But everything has passed now, Ronaldo won the award, it's the past, but even after 7 years, the "he had more goals" agenda is being used loudly by those who want to be blinded by fanboyism. There were many cases where Messi or other scorers had more goals than Ronaldo...

... but he surprisingly won the Ballon d'Or because he won more trophies by ALSO taking part in winning & scoring the clutch goals. Which is fair. But different agendas come for Ribery; "he didn't deserve it," even though he contributed the most for Bayern to win the 5 trophies.

Messi and Ronaldo are brilliant footballers, but does that mean that they deserve to win the award every year? There are fanboys crying why their favorite player cant win their 1000th Bdor, while us Bayern fans would be so happy with just one Ballon dor winner.

Anyways, I will end this long thread with this iconic picture, where it shows Franck Ribéry's strong presence at the biggest stage.

End of thread.