‘I Missed Out on Ballon d’Or to Messi, Pele Claimed I Was Best in the World’

When Pele spoke about football, fans listened and his comments on an Englishman being the best player in the world for five years despite never winning the Ballon d'Or held weight.

The iconic Brazilian is regarded as one of the greatest players in history having transformed the beautiful game during his glistening career. In fact, he had been the one to popularise that very phrase through his words and his extraordinary exploits on the pitch.

There have been only a number of world class footballers who have followed in Pele's footsteps. Lionel Messi is one of them, a once-in-a-lifetime talent who fired Argentina to World Cup glory much like O Rei did twice with Brazil.

Pele always spoke highly of Messi but back around the mid 2000's he made an interesting point about how midfielders are viewed in comparison with attackers.

Pele Wanted More Appreciation For 'Very Good' English Hero

The late Pele spent his career in attack, wowing fans for club and country with his silky Selecao skilset. Whenever the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony comes around, it's often players who possess similar qualities who are contenders.

Very rarely does a workhorse midfielder take the award home and defenders often stand little to no chance. That's why it seemingly didn't surprise Pele to see Messi and Ronaldinho win the awards during the 2000's.

Pele, though, argued at the time that an Englishman deserved more recognition (via Sky Sports):

"The fans, they look only for forwards, always a forward. Somebody who scores. Sometimes you have a player like Gerrard. For me, for the last five years Gerrard has been the best player in the world."

Steven Gerrard is regarded as one of the best English talents the country has ever produced. His all-round game was second to none, working tirelessly up and down the pitch to help his team.

During that era, Gerrard won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool in the miracle of Istanbul in 2005. He put in a captain's performance as the Reds came back from three-nil down to draw 3-3 over 90 minutes before heading to penalties in which Rafa Benitez's men triumphed.

The former 114-cap England international also starred domestically, his best display arguably coming in the 2006 FA Cup final which is nicknamed 'the Gerrard final'. For Pele, there wasn't enough appreciation of his abilities:

"He is a midfielder, he plays very good. People didn't mention Gerrard, now they mention Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Messi because they are forwards."

Gerrard made 710 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 186 goals and providing 156 assists. He unfortunately ended his career without winning a Premier League title and he also failed to get his hands on the Ballon d'Or.

The closest he came to winning the award came in 2005 when he finished third on the podium. Ronaldinho claimed top spot on that occasion before Messi went on to dominate the award along with a tug-of-war with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Thierry Henry Called Steven Gerrard Award Snub 'A Disgrace'

Gerrard didn't just miss out on the Ballon d'Or in 2005 but he also failed to win the European Footballer of the Year award. Ronaldinho instead bagged UEFA's top individual accolade.

One of his old foes believed it to have been an injustice. Thierry Henry called it a 'disgrace' when hailing the former Liverpool captain on his Premier League Hall of Fame nomination in 2021:

"It was a disgrace he didn’t win European Footballer of the Year after Istanbul in 2005 and, for me, he will be regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time."

Henry knew all about Gerrard's qualities having gone toe-to-toe with him in the English top-flight during his first spell at Arsenal. They were two of the superstar names in English football at the time and the Frenchman clearly felt the Englishman deserved to be awarded for his Champions League heroics.

Despite not winning either award, Gerrard has still gone down as one of the greatest midfielders in history. Many players will tell you that individual honours pale in comparison to achieving glory with your team.