Buffon, Robben, Evra, Ballack: Who are football's biggest 'losers'?

Paolo Maldini and the word ‘loser’ don’t exactly go hand in hand.

We are, after all, talking about arguably the greatest male defender in history who won seven Serie A titles, five Champions League crowns, five UEFA Super Cups, the Coppa Italia and FIFA Club World Cup across an iconic spell at AC Milan.

However, in the words of the great man himself, he remains a ‘loser’ by way of also having suffered major disappointments throughout his career such as failing to win either the World Cup or European Championships with Italy.

At least, that’s what the Milan legend said in 2020 with Marca quoting him as telling former teammate Christian Vieri over Instagram Live: “I’m the biggest loser in history.

“Let me explain. I won a lot but I lost three Champions League finals, a European Super Cup, a World Cup final, a European Championship final, a World Cup semi-final, and I could go on.”

Now, we understand what Maldini is ultimately getting at there because there is reason to believe that he did suffer an inordinate amount of disappointment relative to the talent of both himself and his teams.

And while we wouldn’t quite phrase that as brutally as Maldini chose to himself, it nevertheless serves as an interesting definition of the word ‘loser’ that you can easily apply to other big names in the sport.

In fact, that’s exactly what Marca did at the time by compiling what they considered ‘The 10 biggest ‘losers’ in football,’ who, like Maldini, were forced to swallow many crushing defeats despite their undoubted talent.

Interesting, right? You bet, so let’s revisit Marca’s picks for the sport’s biggest ‘losers’ who must look back on their career wondering whether or not they were cursed.

While, yes, Mascherano might have lifted