LIONEL MESSI
World Player of the Year
All you can do is applaud,” said Diego Simeone. The Atletico Madrid coach had just seen his team succumb to another Lionel Messi wonder goal and he could not stop himself from showing his appreciation for his fellow Argentinian from the touchline.
Collecting the ball 50 yards out on the right-hand flank in front of the watching Simeone, and with a sea of Atletico shirts in front of him, Messi advanced towards goal, exchanged passes with Luis Suarez and side-footed a fierce low shot into the corner of the net. The impossibly difficult made to look effortlessly simple. It was typically Messi.
If any other player had broken the deadlock in a top-of-the-table clash with an 86th-minute winner they would be feted and their goal endlessly replayed. But for Messi it was just another day at the office, his individual brilliance carrying Barcelona to a 1-0 victory and keeping them on top of La Liga as the campaign headed towards Christmas.
The consistency of his performances makes it easy to run out of superlatives to describe Messi, and the “Greatest of All Time” debate will rage on. But, ultimately, stats and facts will trump emotions and opinions. And nobody in the modern game can match the individual records set by Messi since he made his Barca debut at the age of 17 in October 2004.
Last season he provided more assists and more goals than anyone else, was Europe’s top scorer with 36 goals in 34 league games to win another Golden