Legendary French forward Franck Ribery has responded sharply to Cristiano Ronaldos recent claim that only Champions League winners should be in contention for the Ballon dOr.
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon dOr winner, said at a press conference on Saturday: In my opinion, those who stand out and win the Champions League should win but individual awards are irrelevant.
Ribery, who finished third behind Ronaldo and Messi in the 2013 Ballon dOr race despite winning five trophies with Bayern Munich that year, including the Champions League, fired back on Instagram.
So you NEED to win the Champions League to win the Ballon dOr?
While Ribery was named UEFAs Best Player in Europe that season, the Ballon dOr still went to Ronaldo, who scored 66 goals in 56 games that year without winning a trophy with Real Madrid.