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#2 Despite not inspiring Barcelona to the trophy, he was still the best player in the Champions League
Lionel Messi began last season with a promise to bring the Champions League back to Nou Camp after a three-year drought and the five-time Ballon d'Or winner began the campaign with this quest in mind.
He started the campaign in exquisite fashion, scoring a hat-trick in the opening day 4-0 demolition of PSV in Eindhoven, and followed that up with a brace in another away victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
A dislocated shoulder saw him miss both legs of the fixture with Inter Milan, but he marked his return to the competition with a goal and assist in the 2-1 victory over PSV.
A listless showing in the goalless draw with Lyon in the second round followed, but in the return leg - a day after Ronaldo downed Atletico Madrid with an unbelievable hat-trick - Messi issued his response by almost single-handedly eliminating the French outfit, scoring a brace and assisting a further two in a 5-1 demolition.
Manchester United escaped his scoring boot in the first leg of their last eight clash, but a brace in the return leg at Camp Nou saw the Argentine international break his five-year quarterfinal drought.
A 3-0 victory over Liverpool in the semifinal first-leg followed, and expectedly, Messi was at the heart of it, scoring two goals, one of which was a stunning free-kick from 25 yards (which was voted as the Champions League goal of the season).
However, a total capitulation in the second leg saw Barcelona dumped out with a 4-0 defeat, and just like that, all of Messi's hard work over the last nine months was shattered in the space of a disastrous 90 minutes.
In total, Messi ended the Champions League season with 12 goals (winning a sixth Golden Boot) and three assists from just 10 matches and even though he ultimately failed to lead Barcelona to European glory, it is undebatable that he was the best performing player in the tournament.
The Champions League is the biggest cub competition in the world, and performance in the tournament goes a long way in determining individual prizes, and in the absence of any bigger tournaments this year, the best player in the Champions League deserves to be named the best player in the world.
