Tuesday 12 January 2016 09:30, UK
After seeing Cristiano Ronaldo beat him into runners-up spot in the Ballon d'Or voting for two consecutive years, Lionel Messi bounced back to claim the trophy for the fifth time in 2015. Adam Bate looks back at a year that saw the Barcelona icon get back on top of the world...
Cristiano Ronaldo devoted an entire cinema release to his quest for the Ballon d'Or. The narrative of the film gave that 2014 award an air of finality with Ronaldo having his crown threatened by Lionel Messi only to vanquish his great rival with a Champions League triumph in Lisbon and one particularly guttural scream in Zurich last January.
But football doesn't have final scenes. There's always another season. One year on and it's Messi posing with the prize once more. It's a fifth win for the Barcelona man, extending the record he'd held on his own even prior to Monday's award ceremony. It turns out Messi can write his own narratives too. Maybe this was the director's cut.
Much has been made of a rivalry that has transcended the game - for better and worse. Messi and Ronaldo's era of dominance is unprecedented in football and their brilliance has been packaged and sold around the world.
They can appear like members of a two-man celebrity super-club that leaves world-class talents feeling like uninvited guests at a private party.
But on the face of it, 2015 might be remembered as the year that linked the good and the great. While trading the trophy for eight years, pundits had to delve beyond the goals and the highlights to make the case for players such as Xavi, Arjen Robben and Manuel Neuer. However, in the past year, players have emerged producing the numbers to match the game's big two.
Messi scored 48 goals for Barcelona in 2015. But then, so did Luis Suarez. Neymar wasn't far behind with 41 of his own. What once seemed freakish totals have been given a tinge of normality. But then Messi and stats have always been a curious mix. There's a Twitter account with half a million followers just for listing them. But how do you quantify genius?
Messi is the man who tops the moments as well as the metrics and there were plenty of those to enjoy in 2015. There was the sight of Jerome Boateng, a World Cup and Champions League winner, dumped on his backside in a semi-final against Bayern Munich as Messi ran through to score his second against the side of his old mentor Pep Guardiola.
Before that, Guardiola had enjoyed his first trip back to the Nou Camp for Barca's last-16 tie against Manchester City and resorted to covering his mouth in shock when Messi left James Milner flailing on the turf. It was the second nutmeg in a 25-minute spell that Gary Neville on commentary said took him "to a place in a football game that I haven't been too many times in my life".
That performance against City was beyond what even seasoned cynics had become accustomed to witnessing. And yet, it also serves to explain the illusion of parity that the numbers can suggest. The records will tell you that over the two legs it was Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic who scored the goals. Messi missed a penalty. The highlights show a series of squandered chances saved by Joe Hart.
But to the entranced fans who chanted his name again and again, one man made the difference. "He didn't score in either game but was decisive in both," said Barca coach Luis Enrique. Hart himself added: "Every time he touched the ball, something was going to happen." Like a favourite band at a little-known festival, you had to be there. Fortunately, we all were. And Messi's playlist is growing.
In 2015, he scored arguably the greatest goal ever to grace a cup final and topped that within a week by helping Barcelona to yet another Champions League win. The year ended with another goal in the Club World Cup final and a sixth major trophy in the calendar year, the second time in which Messi has achieved that particular feat.
It wasn't a one-man mission. Messi is the virtuoso who plays with the orchestra and he thrives when forming partnerships on pitch. But even without him during his injury spell late last year, Barca powered on. While Messi acknowledged it was a "bad time" for him, he stressed that he'd enjoyed his colleagues' success, maintaining a sufficient aura of humility to make you believe him.
Whenever we didn't know what to do, we looked to Messi.
Given that he sat out much of the period during which voting took place, that time could have cost him the Ballon d'Or were it not for the knowledge that he remains the man in this Barcelona team. As former team-mate and Sky Sports pundit Thierry Henry put it: "Whenever we didn't know what to do, we looked to Messi." That still rings true today.
For Messi is still the man in world football too, and with Ronaldo turning 31 next month, there's little reason to suspect it's going to change soon. The goals keep flowing, 12 of them in 10 games since returning to the starting line-up, and the moments keep coming. Don't expect a movie about Messi's 2015 Ballon d'Or win, but football's leading man isn't ready for anyone to shout cut just yet.
