France Football has issued an apology to Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta in the latest edition of their magazine for never having awarded him the Ballon d’Or.

The media outlet’s editor Pascal Ferre in an editorial piece titled ‘Forgive us Andres’ wrote down his thoughts in which he praised the midfielder – who is expected to leave Barcelona for China at the end of the season – for his intelligence.

“Iniesta has proven that the brain is definitely the most important thing when it comes to champions,” Ferre wrote.

The Spaniard came closest to winning the award in the same year (2010) he scored the World Cup winning goal against the Netherlands, but had to settle for second as his Barca team mate Lionel Messi had the majority of the votes, while Xavi came in  third.