Between 2008 and 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi held a duopoly over the Ballon d'Or.

Nobody could deny that the two players were the best in the world on talent alone, but there are certainly many football fans who feel both Ronaldo and Messi are lucky to have five titles apiece.

Take this year, for example. It looks as though many fans are backing Virgil van Dijk to win, not because he's somehow better than the legendary duo but because he's had a better 12 months.

Bearing that in mind, there are two particular years that have been the subject of controversy and 2010 is the first one with Wesley Sneijder not even qualifying for the final three candidates.

However, the slightly more contested instance comes in the form of Franck Ribery who many people - himself included - believe was worthy of the 2013 Ballon d'Or.

Ribery bitter about 2013

Aside from producing more assists than both Messi and Ronaldo, the main argument surrounds Ribery's slew of trophies after winning the treble with Bayern Munich that year.

Or, to use the words of the man himself straight after the ceremony: "I feel I had earned this award. It's all politics. I won everything, with the team and individually. Ronaldo won nothing."

It's not an opinion that been assuaged over time either, with Ribery reiterating earlier this year: "I saw myself as the Ballon d'Or. It's the truth. Even today, I think I deserved it. 

Did Ribery deserve the Ballon d'Or?

"I still haven't digested it. I did everything to have it. I ticked all the boxes. I won all I could win with Bayern. I couldn't do better! I did a very, very, very big personal year."

We get the point, Franck, but just how valid is his argument? Well, taking the statistics aside for a moment, a new video from YouTuber 'ASComps' has really put Ribery's 2013 into perspective.

Cobbling together seven minutes of Ribery dribbling past defenders, scoring absolute screamers and creating killer chances for Bayern, it truly is an incredible watch - check it out down below:

Brilliant stuff, we really don't celebrate Ribery enough.

The fact of the matter is that Ribery was dazzling defenders so much like Messi that even the Barcelona man himself was sent to the ground during their Champions League semi-final.

It really is a glorious compilation that shows Ribery's argument is more than being the star man in that brilliant Bayern Munich side.

Does that mean he deserved the Ballon d'Or, though? It's a truly tough call and if you went off individual statistics alone, then you would probably lean to either Messi or Ronaldo. 

We'll let you decide whether the Ballon d'Or is biased towards out-and-out goal-scorers, but what we do know for sure is that Ribery can count himself slightly unlucky if nothing else.