August 28 – Lionel Messi’s role in Barcelona’s treble-winning 2014/15 campaign has resulted in him being been named UEFA’s European player of the year for the second time in the accolade’s five-year history.
The Argentine superstar may have headlines off the field for alleged tax evasion but on it he is showing little sign of slowing up. Recipient of the inaugural prize in 2011, he finished ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca club-mate Luis Suárez.
Speaking after the Champions League group stage draw, Messi said: “We’re a unified squad who worked very hard to achieve the goals we did. I’m very happy and I would like to thank my team-mates – without them I wouldn’t have received this.”
The 28-year-old broke Telmo Zarra’s record of 251 Liga goals with a hat-trick against Sevilla last November and ended the season with 58 in all competitions from 57 games. He was also joint top scorer in the Champions League with Neymar and Ronaldo with 10 goals.
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