Unsurprisingly, Xavi Hernandez believes his former teammate Lionel Messi deserved the 2016 Ballon d'Or over winner Cristiano Ronaldo, as the Catalan midfielder believes the fact that Portugal and Real Madrid won as a team had something to do with him snatching up the individual award.
The Al-Saad midfielder was recently reunited with his ex-Blaugrana teammates during the friendly in Qatar, and took the opportunity to talk about Ronaldo's win.
"This year, they cared more about the titles won, whereas in years past it was about the best player," Xavi said. "Lionel Messi is the best of them all, even if the titles were won by someone else."