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#4 He was the European Golden Boot winner and outscored all the nominees
In what many considered to be a sub-par campaign for Lionel Messi, the Rosario born maestro still scored 34 goals in La Liga, which was enough to win him the European Golden Boot for a record 5th time.
His goals in the Champions League and the Copa Del Rey added up to make his total tally for the season 45, which was one more than both Mo Salah and Ronaldo managed, while Luka Modric managed just 2 goals across 43 club games last season.
Although it's a given that not all great footballers are great goalscorers, with one of the most revered players in history Zinedine Zidane having a modest goal return during his playing career serving as an example, so to discard Luka Modric on the basis of his goals would be downright unjustifiable, as the Croat's greatness comes not in his goalscoring, but in other subtle aspects of the game such as his innate ability to dictate play and control the tempo of a game.
However, Messi's total goals last season even if not exceptional by his high standards were enough to win him the European Golden Boot, i.e he outscored every single player in all 52 of Europe's top-tier leagues, and if that is not enough to merit a place on the podium for the best player award, then I don't know what is.
