Lionel Messi is still in contention for the King of Football title, having won Marca‘s 2017 Best Player Award for disrespectfully breaking lots of age-long football records.
Image: Lionel Messi
Readers of the Spanish football news outlet voted the Barcelona ace as their choice despite stiff opposition posed by the current Ballon d’Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo. Individual performance matters more than titles, the voters said.
Messi’s deserving win against Ronaldo, who recently won the 2017 World Best Player and FIFA’s The Best award, comes from his efforts at the international stage.
During Argentina’s last round of their CONMEBOL World Cup qualification, hopes were bleak, and football analysts concluded the Albiceleste had no chance of securing a spot at Russia 2018 World Cup. Previous losses to Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador, as well as too many draws, left the Argentina football team needing a win in their final game to secure their safe passage to the global soccer event.
Image: Lionel Messi
The game against Ecuador in Quito got off to a disastrous start but sprung up one of 2017’s greatest surprises in football. An early goal from Romario Ibarra put Los Amarillos ahead just after the first minute and it looked like Jorge Sampaoli‘s men were set to miss the World Cup for the first time since 1970, but not until Messi found the net twice within 10 minutes to rescue Argentina. The charismatic team captain later scored a hat-trick in that game to guarantee his fourth appearance at the biggest global tournament.
In the results released today, Messi came first place in MARCA’s top 100.
While the highly talented Argentina international football admits he has no regrets for not winning many trophies as expected in 2017, we see him going into 2018 seeking to win one coveted, elusive title – the World Cup.
Although many football fans will never agree on the Messi vs Ronaldo debate, the Barcelona star has been adjudged the best of all time.
In 2017, the 30-year-old scored a total of 37 goals to pick up his fourth Golden Shoe in La Liga. He played a prominent role in Barca’s Copa del Rey victory, and was on a high performance level throughout the season. He plays in the best form until the last minute of the game.
Interestingly, he ended the 2016/17 campaign with 54 goals and 19 assists, and this season he is on track to smash even more records since the only thing he knows how to do best is beating his own records.
The sky will hopefully be Messi’s starting point in 2018, especially if he is understood as an aggressive and energetic player who performs best when allowed to play his natural game.
