5 Individual Awards Lionel Messi could win this year

Modified May 11, 2019 08:09 GMT

#2 Best FIFA Men's Player 2019

Last Year Messi was criminally overlooked in the Best FIFA Men's Player Award. It went to Luka Modric for his heroics in the FIFA World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo came second, while Liverpool sensation Mohamed Salah finished third. Lionel Messi came fifth, much to the amusement of the football world.

This season though, Messi has left all competition behind. He is miles ahead of his peers in terms of goals scored, is also leading the assists charts once more and has mesmerized on the field with amazing consistency. True, Barcelona's exit from the Champions League is the only blotch in his season, but the Argentinean is also the leading goalscorer in the competition.

As of now, the Barcelona skipper is the front runner for the Best FIFA Men's Player Award as well. Even though there are quite a few decent performers this season, perhaps only Virgil van Dijk and Kylian Mbappe come close to the Argentinean in terms of inspirational performances.

The only thing Messi can do to bolster his chances is give a performance to remember in the Copa America in the summer. If he manages to do that, Lionel Messi will be untouchable in the race to the Best FIFA Men's Player Award.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Vikshith R