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#2 Impressive consistency
Another thing that will set Messi apart from his Ballon d'Or competitor is the Argentinian's insane consistency. The Argentina talisman either scored or assisted in nearly all of Barcelona's La Liga games last campaign. He did a similar thing in the Champions League, scoring against every team he faced except Inter Milan.
No other players came close to his goalscoring record in both domestic and Champions League. Van Dijk, on the other hand, had hit his low in several of Liverpool's games, particularly in the Champions League group stage. The Reds barely made it into the knockout round after claiming just 9 points from 6 matches in group C.
The Dutch star recorded just 2 clean sheets in the group stage and conceding goals from PSG, Cverna Zvezda and Napoli. Messi was perhaps unlucky to get knocked out from the competition after just one bad game in the semi-final.
