How Lionel Messi Became 2009's Best Player

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi was announced today as the winner of the prestigious 2009 Ballon d'Or accolade with a record 473 points total, over double the tally of second placed Cristiano Ronaldo.

Since January the outstanding forward has demonstrated beyond doubt why he is considered the best player in European football. It doesn't matter whether it's Manchester United in the Champions League final or Numancia in La Liga in January, the Argentinian football mastermind is consistently on hand to deliver goals or assists and it is little wonder that Barcelona have won everything in sight with Messi leading the line and his selection for this award has been wholly justified.

The Argentine forward began the year in typically brilliant style with a hat-trick away to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their fifth round of their Copa del Rey tie at the Vicente Calderon. It was to prove the beginning of a magnificent seven game winning streak for Barca, with the inspirational Messi contributing an amazing total of nine goals and four assists in an unrivalled display of individual endeavour.
Five days after the disposal of Atletico, the magicial Messi came to the Blaugrana's rescue in Pamplona with a late goal against Osasuna as the Catalan giants secured a vital 3-2 win in the Primera Liga and he followed that up with the opener against Deportivo La Coruna as a 5-0 rout at Camp Nou signalled the intent of the would-be champions.

Messi ended January with a brace against Numancia and at the beginning of February underpinned his status as Barca talisman at El Sardinero. With Racing Santander leading 1-0 the Argentine star came off the bench on the hour mark, equalised five minutes later and bagged an 80th minute winner as Barca maintained the winning rhythm. The goal run came to an end in the following game but Messi was still on hand to provide two assists as they overcame Sporting Gijon with a 3-1 win.

Having displayed his undeniable individual supremacy on the domestic scene Messi produced another masterclass for Barca in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final victory over Bayern Munich and ensured that they marched into the semi's with relative ease.



A rampant Barcelona put the Bavarian giants to the sword in 43 minutes of sheer footballing masterclass which cemented Pep Guardiola's team's place as the best side in Europe. Lionel Messi illuminated the contest with two superbly taken individual efforts and also assisted Samuel Eto'o to ensure that the tie was beyond all doubt long before the second leg in Germany.

May was to prove the crucial month for the Argentinian as the season-long display of graft, guile, craft and cunning from the Catalan's resulted in an historic season in Spanish football.

Firsty Messi and Barca went to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in the crucial Clasico. The young forward was nothing short of genius on the night, making Thierry Henry's equaliser before adding two himself in the infamous 6-2 rout of Los Merengues which virtually ensured that title number one in their three trophy triumph was complete.

Even when the Blaugrana looked dead and buried at Stamford Bridge in the dying minutes of their semi final against Chelsea it was the impudent Argentinian who laid the ball off to Andres Iniesta before he broke Blues hearts with that stunning leveller.

The Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao cemented Barca's place in history. The mercurial Messi, inevitably, was on the scoresheet and also provided yet another assist in the 4-1 rout.



And the Champions League final in Rome was surely Messi's finest moment, tormenting the Manchester United rearguard before eventually leaping high to power Xavi's 70th cross past Edwin Van der Sar to cap a fine performance as the Blaugrana completed an unprecedented, glorious treble.

Messi contested 51 games for Barca last season, scoring 38 goals and assisting in 18 more, proving himself as the true team player as well as a superb individual.

So far this term, the 22-year-old has continued where he left off with 11 goals and five assists to his name already in just 18 appearances, including two goals in the Super Copa win over Athletic Bilbao and the assist for Pedro against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco. At this rate who'd bet against him repeating this Ballon d'Or success in 12 months time?