The little magician from Argentina defeated his arch-rival from Portugal to win the best player of the decade award
Since Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi set their foot on the football pitch, a fierce rivalry between the two legendary players began and is continuing to date. There has been a long debate among the fans and the football universe on which one is the better of the two. However, nobody could reach the ultimate conclusion. After years of waiting, it seems the debate is finally over as the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has announced the best player of the last decade and as per them; it is Argentina’s Lionel Messi, whereas the second spot was awarded to Cristiano Ronaldo.
150 member countries of the IFFHS voted for 10 players and most of the votes went to Lionel Messi because of which, the little maestro won the award while Ronaldo received the second-highest number of votes. The other eight players who made it to the list were Andres Iniesta (3rd), Neymar (4th), Sergio Ramos (5th), Manuel Neuer (6th), Robert Lewandowski (7th), Gianluigi Buffon (8th), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (9th) and Luka Modric (10th).
By securing the IFFHS Player of the Decade award, Lionel Messi has become the only player in football history to pick up the Laureus award, Ballon d’Or award, FIFA Men’s Best Player award, a Golden Shoe along with the Pichichi IFFHS playmaker award in a single season. Since his debut, Lionel Messi has scored over 700 goals along with 300 assists for his club and country.
In the last decade
In the last decade, the Argentinian player dominated the world of football by securing the below-mentioned awards and positions:
