Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has been named WhoScored European Player of the Season for the ninth time in eleven consecutive seasons.
According recent results from the Statistics website, Lionel Messi got an overall rating of 8.71 for the 2019/20 season, putting him comfortably ahead of Kylian Mbappe (8.14) in second place.
Bayern Munich’s star Robert Lewandowski was placed third with an overall rating of 8.13, while Kevin De Bruyne (7.97) and Cristiano Ronaldo (7.82) make up the rest of the top five.
Messi has been crowned by WhoScored as the best player in Europe for a record ninth time in 11 seasons. No player has ever achieved that feat.
Lionel Messi: WhoScored European Player of the Season
2009/10 ✅
2010/11 ✅
2011/12 ✅
2012/13 ✅
2013/14 ❌
2014/15 ✅
2015/16 ✅
2016/17 ❌
2017/18 ✅
2018/19 ✅
2019/20 ✅🏆 The @FCBarcelona star lands the award for the ninth time 👏👏👏
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) August 5, 2020
Luis Suarez and Neymar Jr. were brave enough to scoop the accolade in 2013/14 and 2016/17 seasons respectively.
Messi’s arch rival Cristiano Ronaldo has never won the award, despite his outstanding performances in La Liga, Serie A and Champions League over the past decade.
The Argentine’s superior passing and dribbling stats clearly count for a lot!
While his teammates struggled throughout the season, Messi was at his usual brilliant best, scoring and assisting goals for fun.
The 33-year-old star registered 21 assists in the league, the most by a player in the history of top-flight Spanish football. He won his seventh Pichichi award with 25 goals.