The Barcelona No.10 may have won a double and the European Golden Shoe last season but he wasn’t hugely popular with all of our voters
Former England duo Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer recently proclaimed Lionel Messi the greatest footballer of all time but, for some of our Goal 50 voters, the Barcelona No.10 doesn’t even rank among the top 10 players of 2018.
The Argentina attacker finished fifth in our annual list of the game’s top performers over the previous 12 months, with Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric taking the prize for the first time after beating former club-mate Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah to top spot.
It represents Messi’s lowest ever finish in the Goal 50. Indeed, between our inaugural award in 2008 and his fourth triumph, in 2015, the 31-year-old forward never failed to make the podium.
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However, after consecutive fourth-placed finishes, in 2016 and 2017, he slipped to fifth this year, in spite of the fact that he inspired Barcelona to a domestic double last season, winning the European Golden Shoe in the process by netting 34 times in just 36 Liga appearances.
Argentina’s last-16 exit at the World Cup clearly counted heavily against Messi, though. Indonesia (17th), France (13th), Hong Kong (13th) and Thailand (11th) all left Messi out of their respective top tens, as did Goal Features Editor Carlo Garganese (11th).
There were three runners-up nominations for Messi, from Goal’s Head of Spanish Language, Lucas Bertellotti, Barcelona correspondent Ignasi Oliva and Goal Argentina, but just one edition, Chile, placed him on top of the pile for 2018.
Still, given the way in which Messi has started the 2018-19 campaign, who would back against him making a far stronger case for a fifth Goal 50 crown in 12 months’ time?
The Goal 50 is an annual award that both recognises and ranks the world’s 50 best footballers of the preceding 12 months.
Chief editors and correspondents from Goal’s 42 editions around the world all cast their votes, with candidates judged on their level of consistency over the previous year of action, their big-game performances, footballing legacy and the success of their teams at both club and international level.