Spanish giants FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi was on Thursday voted UEFA's best player in Europe for 2014-2015 ahead of his teammate Luis Suarez and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo
FC Barcelona Argentinian striker Lionel Messi
Nyon (Switzerland): Spanish giants FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi was on Thursday voted UEFA's best player in Europe for 2014-2015 ahead of his teammate Luis Suarez and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.
FC Barcelona Argentinian striker Lionel Messi (2ndR) shares a laugh with his Urugayan teammate Luis Suarez (2ndL) and Danish former football player and ceremony host Peter Schmeichel (L) eyed by Real Madrid's Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo during the awarding ceremony for the Best Men's player in Europe at the end of the UEFA Champions League Group stage draw ceremony. Pic/AFP
The Argentine, who won the Champions League, Spain's La Liga and Spanish Cup with Barcelona last season, gets the award for the second time.
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He also won in 2010-2011 and succeeds Real Madrid rival Ronaldo who won last year.
Messi was also declared winner of the European football governing body UEFA's goal of the season for 2014-2015 on Thursday.
Messi scored a stunning goal against German champions Bayern Munich in the Champions League first leg match of the semi-final on April 6.
The match was locked goalless till 77 minutes, then two goals from Messi and one from Neymar secured a spectacular 3-0 win for Barcelona at their home ground.
The Argentine left Bayern defender Jerome Boateng floundering before deftly chipping the ball over goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to score his second goal of the match and put Barcelona into a commanding first-leg lead in their semi-final.
The Argentine skipper earned 39 percent of the 507478 number of votes polled.
The second prize for the best goal went to Spanish team Real Madrid's star striker Cristiano Ronaldo's strike against English outfit Liverpool FC, which received 24 percent of the votes.
The third best goal was given to English club Aaron Ramsey's effort against Turkish giants Galatasaray, which got 9 percent of the votes.
Barcelona went on to win last season's Champions League, beating Italian side Juventus 3-1 in the final.
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen won the best save of the season for his brilliant stop against Bayern in the semi-final.
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