The Best FIFA Men's Player 2019: Top five contenders for the award from the ten-man shortlist 

#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)

Barcelona v Liverpool - UEFA Champions League Semi-Final: First Leg

If anyone has endured a roller-coaster of a campaign last term, it's Lionel Messi. It was initially thought that the stars had aligned for the mercurial Argentine's first season as Barcelona captain as the Catalan giants looked well on their way to a treble.

The Blaugrana hardly had any competitors for La Liga, with arch-rivals Real Madrid suffering a grand crisis, and eventually won the league for a consecutive year. Messi played the starring role in the club's domestic campaign, dominating almost every attacking stat in the Spanish top-flight and tallying an award-winning 36 league goals. He further provided 13 assists to take his direct goal contribution in Spain to 49.

Barcelona were also thriving in the Champions League and were overwhelming favourites to take home the European trophy after beating Liverpool 3-0 in the first leg of the semi-finals. However, the Reds orchestrated one of the biggest comebacks in continental football history to beat the Spanish champions 4-0.

Despite the collapse, Messi found himself at the top of the Champions League's goalscoring charts at the end of the competition, having tallied 12 goals and 3 assists. At the end of the season, the forward accumulated a staggering 51 goals in all competitions for the Blaugrana.

The trip to Anfield proved to be the first of many collapses as Barcelona went on to lose their Copa del Rey final to Valencia, dashing all hopes of completing a domestic double as compensation for their European disappointment.

Internationally, Messi was embroiled in controversy as Argentina crashed out of the 2019 Copa America following a defeat to Brazil in the semi-finals. The 32-year-old accused CONMEBOL of rigging the tournament and setting it up for the Selecao to win.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner's performances in an Argentina shirt were far less spectacular than the ones for his club and could prove to be a major stumbling block in his race for the FIFA Men's Best Player and Ballon d'Or awards.

Having said that, his international pursuits this summer cannot take away from his scintillating individual campaign for Barcelona and if there's anything that could take him all the way this award season, it is his pure genius last term.