NEWS:OF THE two trophies that glittered under the spotlights yesterday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the one Lionel Messi left carrying under his arm might be the one that mattered rather less to the 24-year-old Argentine, but he still seemed suitably pleased at the prospect at having to make room somewhere back at home for the inaugural Uefa Best Player in Europe trophy.
The Barcelona star comfortably beat team-mate Xavi Hernandez and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo into second and third place respectively to lift the prize which was decided by a vote of a panel of journalists representing each of the federation’s 53 member associations.
Ronaldo had made the shortlist of three ahead of another Barcelona star, Andres Iniesta, after lifting Europe’s Golden Boot with 40 goals in 33 league games last season, while Xavi had again been the central figure in the midfield of the team that was again triumphant both at home and in Europe.
Still, Messi got 39 of the available votes compared to 11 and three respectively for his fellow nominees after a campaign in which he consistently sparkled and scored 53 times in 55 appearances while also setting up 24 for others along the way.
“I’d like to thank all the people that voted for me, and all my team-mates,” Messi said after being presented with the trophy by Uefa president Michel Platini.
“It’s an honour to be so successful and to come up with the goods at the right time; thanks to my team-mates for helping me achieve this. (My motivation) comes from being at a club that’s so successful and having a structure that allows us to be so successful; that was taught to me when I moved over and I’ve tried my best to keep it up.”
Messi may have clinched the award with his outstanding performance during the victory over Manchester United in the Champions League final back in May but he had started to lay claim to it much earlier.
Having repeatedly improved on his previous performances for his club in recent seasons he provided firm evidence that 2010/11 was going to be something special in the opening weeks of the campaign by scoring a hat-trick in his first start of the season – the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Seville – finding the net just three minutes into his first league game – against Racing Santander – and then getting two and providing two assists in the club’s opening Champions League group stage game against Panathinaikos.
Over the months that followed he was integral to Barcelona’s remarkable run of success with the striker regularly scoring critically important and often special goals. An ankle injury suffered in September had threatened to dent his form somewhat but having returned sooner than expected he went on a spectacular run of form, scoring in nine straight games.
Little changed after he was named as the winner of Fifa’s Ballon d’Or for 2010 ahead of Iniesta and Xavi and amongst the many performances that stood over the second half of the season were the Champions League 3-1 and 2-0 wins over Arsenal and Real Madrid in each of which he scored twice.
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