On January 6th, 2012 Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Argentina was named this year's winner of the Ballon D'Or award. This was Messi's fourth straight award of being named the best player in the world. Winning the Ballon D'Or for the fourth time put Messi ahead of Zinedine Zidane of France and Christiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Portugal.
This isn't the first record Messi has broken this season. In 2012 he scored 91 season goals breaking Gerd Muller's previous record of 85 goals in 1972. “My record stood for 40 years, 85 goals in 60 games, and now the best player in the world has broken it, and I’m delighted for him,” Muller said after Messi surpassed his tally. “He is an incredible player, gigantic.”
“When I was eight years old I never dreamed of being the best,” Messi, 25, said before being presented with the trophy in Zurich. “I don’t dream about it now. The only thing that interests me is to play with the ball and enjoy the game.”
Ronaldo came in second to Messi in the polls taken for the FIFA Ballon D'Or. When asked about how he feels about Messi and competing as the title of best player, Ronaldo responded with, "I do not feel much rivalry, at least not personally. Of course we are here to win, but there is no rivalry. It is just about the football -- that is what counts.”
With Messi playing so well with fellow players Iniesta and Hernandez on Barcelona's offense, he is well on his way to breaking even more season records. Barcelona is one of the main power houses of European soccer with three out of the last four Spanish Championships on their record. In addition, Barcelona has also won twice in the past four seasons in Europe's Champions League.
Messi is a team player and is more focused on his team's success as a whole rather than his personal advances. “This has not been my best year,” Messi said. “I’m more interested in team awards than individual awards. There were other years when we won more trophies, so they were better.”
Despite the discussions over whether or not Messi is truly the best in the world, he is well on his way to becoming a house hold name in the soccer world.
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