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#2 Lionel Messi
How can a player who finished outside the top three for both the FIFA Best and Ballon d'Or be the second best performing player in the world right?
Well for starters, we all know the inconsistencies and controversies surrounding the handing out of individual awards in recent years and secondly, when it comes to all-round performance in 2018, arguably no one can come close to matching what Lionel Messi did this year.
Some might argue that he failed to lift his team on the biggest stages when they really needed him - going missing in Barcelona's quarter-final capitulation to AS Roma in the UCL, while also putting on a no-show in Argentina's shambolic World Cup performance. While it is hard to argue against this, a cursory look at other aspects of his game shows what an amazing year Messi had.
He won the European Golden Boot for the second year running and fifth time overall, as his 35 goals although slightly beneath his usual standards was some way more than anyone else managed.
He ended the year with more goals, more assists, more freekicks scored, more completed dribbles and more chances created than anyone else in Europe's top five leagues, while his record of 51 goals and 26 assists from just 54 matches for club and country shows how dominant he was this year.
This season, Lionel Messi seems to be on a mission to right all the wrongs from last season and silence his detractors and if he is to up the ante from his performance this year, it is hard to see anyone stopping Barcelona this season.
