Diego Milito...

Rozay

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Should have won the Balloon in 2010. Scored 30 goals for Inter, won the treble (the real treble including the CL), scored 2 in the semifinals and another 2 in the final of the CL.

Wasn’t even in the top 3 that year, and generally, his achievements during that period for Inter have been largely forgotten. He was a proper striker.

 

AshRK

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The even more crazy part was he was just used bit part player in the Argentinean 2010 wc campaign. Messi, milito, tevez, aguero, higuain. That was some attacking force.
 

VorZakone

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The even more crazy part was he was just used bit part player in the Argentinean 2010 wc campaign. Messi, milito, tevez, aguero, higuain. That was some attacking force.
Spanked by Germany.
 

DWelbz19

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Wasn’t even in the top 20, let alone top 3. The personal branding of the award is everything, really. Milito was hardly what you’d call a brand name even with those impressive feats that year, and his non-existent WC that year would appear to have given justification for those who do the voting to not rank him adequately.
 

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When we talk about teams that were on paper way too good to go down (Boro 96/97, West Ham 2002/03 etc) one that is forgotten is Real Zaragoza in the 2007/08 season.

They had Roberto Ayala in central defence (he actually stayed and played for them in Segunda), Carlos Diogo and Pavon who people will remember at Real Madrid, a midfield of Pablo Aimar, Albert Celades, Gabi and Peter Luccin and upfront was Milito and Ricardo Oliveria who scored loads at Betis a few seasons before.

Always thought of Zaragoza as a fairly big club in Spain. Plenty of top half finishes and they've won Copa Del Rey twice in last 20 years and of course the famous cup winners cup win over Arsenal in 1995.

That has to be one of the best teams in any league to be relegated, they went down on 42 points so very similar to West Ham. The previous year they'd finished 6th and Milito had scored 23 goals (third highest scorer in europe) so his quality was known then and then he went to Genoa and pretty much scored a goal a game and then Inter picked him up.

Just the 25 caps for Argentina, his brother got more despite the numerous injuries. For 2010 world cup Higuain did justify his place as he scored hat trick v South Korea and then in last 16 v Mexico.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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Definitely more deserving than Sneijder(who has a legion of fans thinking he should have won it in 2010).
 

abundance

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Should have won the Balloon in 2010. Scored 30 goals for Inter, won the treble (the real treble including the CL), scored 2 in the semifinals and another 2 in the final of the CL.

Wasn’t even in the top 3 that year, and generally, his achievements during that period for Inter have been largely forgotten. He was a proper striker.
Amen to that.
He was one of the properest (erm) strikers I've ever seen at Inter. A walking textbook on how you play the role.

The last mile of the triplete season has his name watermarked on it.
May 5th, Coppa Italia final: 1-0 vs Roma, goal by Milito.
May 16th, Serie A last fixture, we need a win to top the table: 1-0 vs Siena, goal by Milito.
May 22nd, Champions League final: 2-0 vs Bayern, goals by Milito.

And yet to say that May 2010 was his masterpiece would almost be a disservice to him.
Because that wasn't exceptional, it was just what he did: score, any time it mattered, with such measured flair, astute vision, and impeccable precision.

His low-key career up to that point is a reminder of how much chance is involved for talented players to reach the stage they deserve to leave a legacy in the game.

Milito had a promising, but maybe not too flashing, career start at Racing. To make the leap from Argentina to Europe, he chose the path of Genoa, which at the time had been in Serie B for eight straight seasons, and had an ambitious new owner that was very determined to put an end to that.
First season was squad building, and adapting to Italy for him, he scored 12 in 20 games.
Second season, 21 in 39, with Genoa coasting the championship with flair and getting ready for having fun in Serie A with a team way too good for second division. But, the aforementioned ambitious owner was too hitchy for success and goofily tried to fix a game towards the end of the season which he really didn't need to fear they wouldn't have won. He got outed, and Genoa was demoted to C1 instead of promoted to Serie A.
Had that not happened, I'm pretty sure Milito would've rocked Serie A at 26 and would've been soon snagged by one of the bigs here.
Instead, he got hastily sold to Zaragoza in the quick dismantling of that Genoa side.
There, he perfomed flawlessly but for some weird reason he spent three full seasons there ending up with that relegation that FootballHQ recalled. Time to move again, and again he wasn't offered anything better than a comeback to Genoa which was mid-table in Serie A at the time. Great season again, and finally, at 30, Inter resolves to try and give him a first class seat.
 
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paraguayo

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Should have won the Balloon in 2010. Scored 30 goals for Inter, won the treble (the real treble including the CL), scored 2 in the semifinals and another 2 in the final of the CL.
Here
 

Rozay

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Amen to that.
He was one of the properest (erm) strikers I've ever seen at Inter. A walking textbook on how you play the role.

The last mile of the triplete season has his name watermarked on it.
May 5th, Coppa Italia final: 1-0 vs Roma, goal by Milito.
May 16th, Serie A last fixture, we need a win to top the table: 1-0 vs Siena, goal by Milito.
May 22nd, Champions League final: 2-0 vs Bayern, goals by Milito.

And yet to say that May 2010 was his masterpiece would almost be a disservice to him.
Because that wasn't exceptional, it was just what he did: score, any time it mattered, with such measured flair, astute vision, and impeccable precision.

His low-key career up to that point is a reminder of how much chance is involved for talented players to reach the stage they deserve to leave a legacy in the game.

Milito had a promising, but maybe not too flashing, career start at Racing. To make the leap from Argentina to Europe, he chose the path of Genoa, which at the time had been in Serie B for eight straight seasons, and had an ambitious new owner that was very determined to put an end to that.
First season was squad building, and adapting to Italy for him, he scored 12 in 20 games.
Second season, 21 in 39, with Genoa coasting the championship with flair and getting ready for having fun in Serie A with a team way too good for second division. But, the aforementioned ambitious owner was too hitchy for success and goofily tried to fix a game towards the end of the season which he really didn't need to fear they wouldn't have won. He got outed, and Genoa was demoted to C1 instead of promoted to Serie A.
Had that not happened, I'm pretty sure Milito would've rocked Serie A at 26 and would've been soon snagged by one of the bigs here.
Instead, he got hastily sold to Zaragoza in the quick dismantling of that Genoa side.
There, he perfomed flawlessly but for some weird reason he spent three full seasons there ending up with that relegation that FootballHQ recalled. Time to move again, and again he wasn't offered anything better than a comeback to Genoa which was mid-table in Serie A at the time. Great season again, and finally, at 30, Inter resolves to try and give him a first class seat.
The bolded part is something I’m a big believer in. Also the reverse, in that I think a lot of top players with great legacies could have just as easily had the career of a journeyman at a lower level. Time and place is crucial in determining which direction a career goes.

As for Milito, I think you summed him ip perfectly. ‘A walking textbook in how to play the striker role’. That season he was incredible, and turned up right on time for Inter over and over. I think it’s a shame that he’s not really remembered much in the game. It wasn’t that long ago at all that he was winning the CL for his team. He was just seemingly too ‘unfashionable’.
 

Adam-Utd

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Stastically a fantastic season, the perfect Mourinho striker i'd say.

Btw what an awful song for a football compiliation :lol:
 

jderbyshire

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They were managed by Maradona, what dis you expected? :lol:
Exactly.

And they were probably the most top-heavy team ever.

All those great forwards then the defence/midfield was.... average at best? Apart from Mascherano.
 

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Definitely more deserving than Sneijder(who has a legion of fans thinking he should have won it in 2010).
Sneijder was pretty good at Inter too that year though. And had a much better world cup. Milito not being in the top 20 is ridiculous though.

Neither should've won it if you ask me though. Messi was simply a better player than both of em. Cups and trophies aside.
 

izec

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He was outstanding that season, and scored for Inter in every important game. He was one of the best strikers around at the time.

Argentina, as usual, had no clue how to use the attacking talent at their disposal. Still to this day, they can't seem to find a tactic and formation that works for the unbalanced squad and difference in talent across the pitch.
 

OutlawGER

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He was doing great that season, but still he was nowhere near the best player in the world.

Sneijder and Robben were.

Especially how Robben carried Bayern (and to some extend the Netherlands) on his own during that season was completely outstanding.
 

El Jefe

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Should have won the Balloon in 2010. Scored 30 goals for Inter, won the treble (the real treble including the CL), scored 2 in the semifinals and another 2 in the final of the CL.

Wasn’t even in the top 3 that year, and generally, his achievements during that period for Inter have been largely forgotten. He was a proper striker.

He was excellent that year but the Ballon D'or should've been Sneijders that year.
 

paraguayo

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Exactly.

And they were probably the most top-heavy team ever.

All those great forwards then the defence/midfield was.... average at best? Apart from Mascherano.
Yes, their backline and midfield in that cup featured Jonas Gutierrez, Heinze, Burdisso, 50 year old Veron, Demichelis, Maxi Rodriguez. I believe those were the most utilized
 

broccoli

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He was doing great that season, but still he was nowhere near the best player in the world.

Sneijder and Robben were.

Especially how Robben carried Bayern (and to some extend the Netherlands) on his own during that season was completely outstanding.
Sneijder was never close to the best player in the world. Great passer but he didn't have much more in his locker compared to others. Robben yes, a constant danger and an amazing player throughout his career.
 

Garry Buck

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One of Mourinho’s ‘killers’ so to speak during his time at Inter. The players said they would have done anything for him. He was really in his prime back at Inter. Madrid ruined him to be honest.
 

Balu

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He was doing great that season, but still he was nowhere near the best player in the world.

Sneijder and Robben were.

Especially how Robben carried Bayern (and to some extend the Netherlands) on his own during that season was completely outstanding.
Sneijder was excellent that year, but wasn't the best player in any of his teams (Milito definitely was at Inter and rightfully won the Serie A und UEFA awards). I guess, it would have been okay to give the Ballon d'Or to Sneijder for being a key player in the treble side and a team that surprisingly made it to the world cup final. I wouldn't have voted for him though.
Agree that Robben was overall better and it could have been his year, but he fell short twice in the two big games while for example Milito delivered. And Robben missed so many games due to injuries that season/year.

I actually think it was the year to give it to Xavi (didn't have a consistently amazing world cup overall, but was still great and saved his one elite performance for the arguably most important game against Germany - I'd actually go as far and say it was the best individual performance in a game at the 2010 World Cup and at a level that for example Modric in 2018 never got close to). He was brilliant throughout the season for Barca and kept them ticking in midfield despite Iniesta's injury. But at that point Messi's tremendous invidiual feats were still somewhat new, so he was overshadowed.
 

rotherham_red

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One of Mourinho’s ‘killers’ so to speak during his time at Inter. The players said they would have done anything for him. He was really in his prime back at Inter. Madrid ruined him to be honest.
That Jose was unreal. I still don't know how he got those guys past that second leg at the Camp Nou. Any other team would have crumbled under the pressure.
 

Garry Buck

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That Jose was unreal. I still don't know how he got those guys past that second leg at the Camp Nou. Any other team would have crumbled under the pressure.
Yeah I couldn’t quite believe it myself. They literally put everything on the line that day.
 

rotherham_red

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Yeah I couldn’t quite believe it myself. They literally put everything on the line that day.
It wasn't just that either. They choked the life out of the game, so much so that they ended up more than deserving the win even though they had such little possession.

It's such a shame that this was as good as it got for him.
 

Garry Buck

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It wasn't just that either. They choked the life out of the game, so much so that they ended up more than deserving the win even though they had such little possession.

It's such a shame that this was as good as it got for him.
Who Mou or Diego?
 

Offside

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Quite funny how people look back and try to claim all of these inter players that should have won the Ballon D’or in 2010 when at the time Messi was the most nailed on winner in a long time.
 

Ibi Dreams

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Quite funny how people look back and try to claim all of these inter players that should have won the Ballon D’or in 2010 when at the time Messi was the most nailed on winner in a long time.
True, I think everybody knew Messi was the best player in the world at that time. It boils down to how much value you put on individual brilliance and how much you put on success. Milito and Sneijder had more successful seasons than Messi, but have never been as good as him.

It's probably largely due to Messi and Ronaldo dominating the prize for the last decade, it is interesting to go back and look at other players who perhaps outperformed them at least in terms of trophies.
 

Rozay

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Quite funny how people look back and try to claim all of these inter players that should have won the Ballon D’or in 2010 when at the time Messi was the most nailed on winner in a long time.
By the metrics used to award Balloons, Milito was very deserving. The typical thing to do is to favour the best player from a team who wins trophies, particularly the Champions League or an international one. Messi was obviously a better player than Milito, but Milito’s contribution to success was immense. The likes of Cannavaro, Zidane and R9 have been given it due to moments in big games. Milito had several that year.
 

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I never even realized he stayed at Inter another 4 season's post Mou, i thought he left after the Benitez season.
 

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Underrated striker. He was also very good in La Liga before moved to Inter. However, to consider him winning Ballon dor is overrated. Sneijder deserved it since not only he led his club to winnings, he led his country to reach final World Cup.