Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award for an unprecedented fifth time.
The Barcelona forward reclaimed the biggest individual accolade in world football at a lavish ceremony in Zurich on Monday, beating Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, the three-time winner he has been runner-up behind for the last two years.
He also finished ahead of fellow Barca frontman Neymar after a calendar year in which the Catalan outfit claimed five titles.
This is the goal that started it all https://t.co/vh5WAT98QJ
— Oddschecker (@Oddschecker) January 11, 2016
Messi the record breaker
- Messi is the only player to have won more than three FIFA Ballon d’Or awards, his latest success following his wins in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
- 52 – Goals Messi scored in all competitions for Barcelona and Argentina in 2015.
- 430 – Career goals Messi has scored in all official competitions for Barcelona, having played in 503 games.
- 0.85 – Goals per game average for Barcelona.
- 26 – Titles won by Messi with Barcelona, a club record shared with Andres Iniesta.
- 295 – Primera Division goals scored by Messi, 44 more than second-best Telmo Zarra.
- 28 – Hat-tricks for Barcelona.
- 49 – Career goals for Argentina, in 105 matches.
- 16 – Age at which Messi made his Barcelona first-team debut.
- 91 – Goals scored by Messi in 2012, breaking the calendar-year record set by German Gerd Muller in 1972.
- 58,000,000 – Twitter mentions for Messi in 2015.