For the second time this month (third, if you include the fact that he’s the only player featured twice on our Golazos del año list), Lionel Messi has won big. He did it at the LFP Gala Awards – winning La Liga’s best striker and best player – and now he’s gone and done it again: yesterday, he was crowned Best Player of the Year at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai.
In a surprise turn of events, the Barça boy decided to keep it classy with a black suit for the ceremony (this in striking contrast to his often abysmal suit game).
“Obviously I am very happy to be here and delighted to win this award, but as always, the most important thing is the collective, the team,” Messi said after receiving the award. “It is difficult to pick out one moment from what has been an extraordinary year for Barça. The whole year has been wonderful.”
Wonderful, indeed. Marked by unparalleled world dominance, too. Messi wasn’t the only azulgrana to win big last night; Barça was named Best Club of the Year after winning five major honors on the year (the FIFA Club World Cup most recently) and Josep Maria Bartomeu took home Best President of the Year honors (despite a turbulent series of events in which he was asked to provide written defense to tax fraud allegations related to Neymar’s transfer).
Bartomeu himself had nothing but praise for his club’s Argentine star: “For me, he [Messi] is not only the best player in the world but in the history of football,” he said.
Other award winners can be found here. Ballon d’Or is looming in the distance…