Uzair Rizvi, BeyondHeadlines
Barcelona Ace Lionel Messi has been named the inaugural recipient of UEFA’s Best Player in Europe Award for the season 2010-2011.
Messi surpassed his Barcelona teammate Xavi Hernandez and his archrival Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi scored 53 goals last season as Barcelona won the Spanish La Liga and the Champions League, where he finished as the top scorer for the third season in succession.
He has been voted in a poll of 53 sports journalists from the UEFA‘s members nations, the Argentine collected his prize at UEFA Champions’ League group stage draw in Monaco.
UEFA created the honor after ‘France Football’ magazine combined its traditional European award with FIFA’s World Player prize.
Messi won that award in January.
The award is a spiritual replacement for the UEFA Club Footballer of the year and is given to the players based on their performances for club and country.
The Top Ten:
1-Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)
2-Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona/Spain)
3-Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal)
4-Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain)
5-Falcao (FC Porto/Colombia)
6-Wayne Rooney (Manchester United/England)
7-Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United/Serbia)
8-Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan/Sweeden) and Gerard Pique (Barcelona/Spain)
10-Manuel Neuer (FC Schalke 04/Germany)
