Mecurial player, Lionel Messi has been crowned the best Latin player in Spain.


Lionel Messi is on the news yet again as the Argentine forward has become the sixth FC Barcelona player in the 17 year history of the EFE Awards to be crowned best player. The youthful wonder-kid has been in spectacular form, and scored an average of 6.5 points per match in all games last season, making him the clear favourite for the award. Messi was presented with the trophy by EFE president Alex Grijelmo and was joined by his parents, brothers and other family members at the ceremony. In his acceptance speech, Messi said:

I am very happy to receive this award. I want to thank the Agency EFE and all the people who are present, to my family and my captain, Carles Puyol. It is beautiful to be able to receive this prize and it gives me extra motivation to continue grow as a player.

Messi beat off competition from Daniel Alves and his Barça teammate Ronaldinho to scoop the award, voted for by the members of EFE.

Six FC Barcelona players have now received the award, and they include four Brazilians and two Argentines. The winners are Brazilian Romario who was the first in the 1993-1994 season, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Saviola and Ronaldinho, before Messi made it number six. Having won 6 of the 17 awards, Barça tops the ranking of clubs in terms of winners until now.
While presenting the award to Messi, EFE president, Alex Grijelmo said:

Messi is one of those players that I enjoy watching. Today he receives an important prize. They say that he is the new Maradona; he is not very tall, like Butragueño or Aimar, and that is one of the great things about football, that anyone can dream about being a star regardless of their physique.

In a related press conference, FC Barcelona president, Joan laporta paid tribute to lionel Messi, saying:

It is a privilege to have Messi at this club, if Barcelona are more than a club then Messi is more than a player. It’s an honour for us to have him, this club was made for Messi and he was made for this club. It would be great to have him here for the rest of his career. Messi is a player who entertains the fans and he makes everyone enjoy football, it’s a pleasure to have players like him.