adminThe 24-year-old from Rosario, Santa Fe is not short of silverware but what really sets him apart is the effervescence of his dribbling, the inventiveness of his team play and the extraordinary regularity of his goalscoring.
In 2011, Messi scored 59 goals in 70 club games for Barcelona. It was a figure bettered only by Cristiano Ronaldo (60), but Messi also contributed 37 assists to the Portuguese’s 21.
Only Michel Platini had previously won the Ballon d’Or for three years running and Messi now belongs to an elite group also featuring Dutch legends Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten to have been honoured with the award on three occasions.
“Messi will be the player to win the most Ballons d’Or in history,” predicts Cruyff.
“He will win five, six, seven. He is incomparable. He’s in a different league.”
Messi has also proven himself capable of rising to the occasion when the sport’s biggest prizes are on the line.
His influence echoed long and loud over the closing stages of last season’s Champions League, after he netted twice in Barca’s semi-final defeat of Ronaldo’s Real Madrid and found the target against Manchester United in the final at Wembley.
Barcelona’ trophy haul in 2011 meant that Messi now has three Champions League winners’ medals and five La Liga crowns to his name.
He has also won the FIFA Club World Cup twice and it is a matter of time until he surpasses Cesar Rodriguez’ record of 235 goals for his club.
In terms of pure ability with a football, Messi bears comparison with any player who has ever played the game, but his one Achilles heel is his inability to reproduce his Barcelona form in the light blue and white stripes of his country.
Messi’s goalscoring record with Argentina is a disappointing 19 goals in 66 games, and he was unable to prevent his country from crashing out in the quarter-finals at both the 2010 World Cup and last year’s Copa America in his homeland.
Traditionalists contend that, for all his astonishing exploits at club level, he cannot be compared to Pele or his feted countryman Diego Maradona until he has left his imprint on a major international tournament.
Meanwhile, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was named FIFA Coach of the Year for 2011 at a ceremony in Zurich yesterday.
Guardiola, 40, led Barcelona to five trophies in 2011, including the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup and a third consecutive Spanish La Liga title.
The former Barcelona and Spain midfielder had been nominated alongside last year’s winner Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid and Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson. – AFP.
Online Reporter