Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, has given his opinion on why Xavi and Andres Iniesta never won the Ballon d’Or during their playing days.
He said it was simply because of multiple-time winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Xavi and Iniesta are widely known as two of the best midfielders of their generation.
Ex-Barcelona stars, Xavi and Iniesta enjoyed unprecedented success in club and international football even with Spain.
They won two European Championships and the FIFA World Cup with La Roja and multiple titles with Barça, including two continental trebles.
But with Ronaldo and Messi’s Ballon d’Or duopoly ongoing at the time, the two legends never finished atop the podium.
Speaking ahead of Manchester City’s trip to London for their EFL Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, Guardiola said, “Cristiano (Ronaldo) was a monster, and the father of the monster is (Lionel) Messi. And both have done something incredible in the last 15, or 20 years. And maybe in that moment, Xavi and Iniesta deserved the #BallonDor as well…
“You know that the era of Cristiano and Messi has been unbelievable, how they shared it, well deserved it, and they were on another level. And now, it’s another era, and everyone can win the Ballon d’Or, and in the end the opinion is free…”