Not a big surprise to see Barcelona’s Lionel Messi be named the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award on Thursday ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suárez. This is the second time that Messi has won the award.
Messi, speaking after the UEFA Champions League group stage draw, said:
“We’re a unified squad who worked very hard to achieve the goals we did. I’m very happy and I would like to thank my team-mates – without them I wouldn’t have achieved this.”
The Argentina star broke Telmo Zarra’s record for Liga goals last term and ended the season with 58 in all competitions as he helped Barca win the treble for the second time in their history, and captained his country to the finals of the Copa America tournament where they lost on penalties to host Chile.