'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal) - 63 goals (2012)
Carrying on from his exploits the previous year, when he netted 60 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo was at his prolific best in 2012 as well.
Trending
The Portuguese's blistering form in the first half of the 2011-12 La Liga season spilled over into the new year as well. Ronaldo scored 26 goals to end his campaign with 46 league strikes for the season. His winner at Camp Nou also sealed Real Madrid's first La Liga title in four years.
Ronaldo scored seven goals in the knockout stages of the Champions League. But these were of little significance as Real Madrid were eliminated by Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout in the semifinals.
Ronaldo opened the new season with 14 La Liga goals and netted another six in the Champions League. He also scored five goals for Portugal that year, three of them at Euro 2012.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal) - 69 goals (2013)
After his blistering exploits in 2011 and 2012, when the Portuguese netted at least 60 goals apiece, Cristiano Ronaldo took things up a notch in 2013.
He began the year with 20 league goals, including two hat-tricks. In the Champions League, though, there was more heartbreak in store for Ronaldo and Real Madrid. Los Blancos were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund in the semis despite their Portuguese ace netting six knockout-stage goals.
However, there were better things in store for Ronaldo in the first half of the 2013-14 season. After going without a goal in the first two games, the then 28-year-old netted 18 league goals to close the year. Ronaldo enjoyed another strong start to his Champions League campaign, scoring eight group-stage goals.
Ronaldo also netted a Copa del Rey hat-trick and two more with Portugal, for whom he scored ten times. He closed a career-best year with a rich tally of 69 goals.
He would win his second Ballon d'Or title that year and his first since moving to Real Madrid.
#1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina) - 91 goals (2012)
In 2012, Lionel Messi produced arguably the best-ever single-year performance by any player in the history of the game. The Argentine scored a staggering 91 goals for club and country.
During the year, Messi became the first player to breach the 50-goal mark in a La Liga season, or for that matter, in any top-five league on the continent. But Real Madrid beat Barcelona to the league title. The Blaugrana were knocked out by eventual champions Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals and had to be content with just the Copa Del Rey title that year.
Messi was imperious in the first half of the 2012-13 season too. He ended the year with more goals than Manchester United, PSG, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund. What's even more impressive is that Messi conjured this tally of 91 goals during the year in just 69 games.
During the year, the Argentine scored 79 goals for his club and 12 for Argentina. In the process, Messi broke Gerd Muller's record of most goals (85 goals) by a player in a calendar year. Though Messi averaged a staggering 1.32 goals per game that year, it was a tad short of Muller's average of 1.42 (85 goals in 60 games).
Nevertheless, thanks to his blistering exploits that year, Messi became the first player to win four consecutive Ballon d'Or awards.
