Lionel Messi named best playmaker of the last decade with Andres Iniesta
Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta of Barcelona win playmaker award.
Lionel Messi wins yet another award to cement his legacy. Just last month he broke Pele’s record for the most number of goals in one club and he also won a peace award given out by ‘Peace and Sport’, a Monaco-based organization. Now he has been named the best playmaker of the last decade through proper statistics, not voting. He stands tall on the podium next to ex-teammate, Andreas Iniesta and rival, Luka Modric.
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‘The Best Playmaker of the Last Decade’ is an award given out by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS). Every year they give out the best playmaker of the year award and name 19 other top playmakers as well. The player on pole position gets 20 points, the one in second gets 19, and so on. Whoever has accumulated the most number of points won the playmaker of the decade of course and thus no sort of voting took place.
According to the Daily Mail, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner had won the award three times in the last decade, 2015, 2017, and 2019. He accumulated a total of 174 points which is miles ahead of second place, Adreas Iniesta, who could only manage to win 127 points. Surprise Ballon d’Or winner, Modric, deservedly takes up the last place on the podium with 113 points.
The 33-year-old has managed to silence critics again as this definitively proves Mess as a team player. He helps out the entire team and talks of him being lazy on the pitch and having a low work rate are just untrue and slanderous. While it is true that the Argentine can be seen walking on the pitch sometimes, he is also the reason why the club is still one of the elites of Europe.
Other notable players who were in the top 20 list but missed out on the podium were Kevin De Bruyne, arguably Premier League’s best playmaker, Toni Kroos and Eden Hazard. Neymar was also on the list and came in at seventh place. However, this award once again proves Messi’s importance to Barcelona, and replacing him will be a mammoth task.
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Has the Argentine maestro moved into a more playmaking role at the Nou Camp?