Cristiano Ronaldo may have tallied more goals than Lionel Messi throughout the 2014 2015 football campaign, but the celebrations were all about the great Leo on August 27th, as UEFA unveiled their awards for the 2014/15 season. Messi not only picked up the fan-voted UEFA Goal of the Season Award, but it was also announced that Lionel Messi wins UEFA Best Player in Europe 2014/15 Award for the second time in his soccer career.
Messi's First Best Player in Europe Win
Later in 2011, after winning the Best Player in Europe Award, Messi also led FC Barcelona to a victory in FIFA's Club World Cup. His total goal tally for the soccer season ended up at 31 goals for league games and 53 overall.
The 2014 2015 Season
2014 2015, when all is said and done, could go down as an even more impressive pair of years for Lionel. He led Barcelona to a treble victory last spring, orchestrating victories in the Spanish La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League for his second time since coming to Camp Nou. (Barca's first treble season, 2008 2009, turned into a six-trophy year in 2009, when the soccer squad also won the UEFA Super Cup, the Supercopa de Espana, and the FIFA Club World Cup.)
Unfortunately for fans in the Barcelona shirt, 2015 won't go down in history as Barca's second six-trophy year. While the football club have already clinched four trophies (the La Liga, the Copa, the UCL, and the UEFA Super Cup), they had to settle for runner-up in the Spanish Super Cup competition, losing the title to Athletic Club Bilbao. The Club 
World Cup, meanwhile, won't be decided until December.
Even without six trophies, though, Barcelona as a whole (and Messi specifically) have enjoyed a great run since the 2014 2015 campaign began last August. Though his goal tally for the season was actually lower than Ronaldo's (he scored 43 points in league and 58 across all competitions, versus Ronaldo's 48/61 totals), Messi's ability to lead Barca to so many victories ultimately gave him the edge over Cristiano with UEFA voters.
After all, we've seen Messi score a massive goal tally before. He still holds the European record for most goals in a season, having netted 73 across all competitions in 2011 2012. This year he worked more as a team player, melding his talents with those of Neymar and Luis Suarez to create what may have been the greatest front line in Barcelona football club history.
The Votes
UEFA's voting members clearly admired Lionel's accomplishments as both a team player and an individual soccer star. Messi won the Best Player in Europe Award with 49 of the 54 votes cast. Suarez actually finished second, with three votes, while Ronaldo ended up in third with just two. Those numbers make Messi's win the most decisive in the (brief) history of the UEFA award. The message, of course, is that there was no question about who the best player was this year.
Lionel, who credited his teammates for his success, wins the Best Player in Europe prize after missing the top three finalist list for the first time last season. In 2013 2014, Ronaldo won the award, with Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer and Arjen Robben rounding out the top three. In 2013, Messi had been second to Bayern's Franck Ribery, and in 2012, he had been runner-up to his Barca teammate, Andres Iniesta.
Celebrate Messi's well-deserved award today, by picking up a brand new Barcelona football shirt 2015 2016 from Soccer Box! We also have home shirts and player-specific Lionel Messi jerseys in stock.
