Who cares, everyone and their mother's dog knows Messi is a way better footballer than Modric even if he finished 20th. Just like in the past Ronaldinho and Henry were way better than Cannavaro but the later won it on the back of a good WC. Xavi and Iniesta also don't have to be upset about this because, once again, they know what they were against(GOAT). Everyone knows that they also are easily better than Modric as well but the croat was the right player at the right time. Everyone that wasn't involved with Messi, Ronaldo and their teams was fatigued by them winning for the last 10 years and a good performance at the WC was the perfect excuse to give the award to another player.
I would say though that if Messi had the kind of season starts that Modric and Ronaldo had the last few years you wouldn't hear the end of it. They basically lost a few Ligas right at the start of each season with some awful performances for the so called best players in the world. Just goes to show the power Perez has over the footballing world over the last few years. The guy somehow was able to bring the fecking Copa Libertadores final to Bernabeu too. Puts into perspective some of the wins Ronaldo had over the last 5 years.