Lionel Messi made it a hat-trick of successes as he was crowned with Fifa’s Ballon d’Or for 2011 to go alongside the 2009 and 2010 awards.
The Argentinian wizard set dazzling standards again as he helped Barcelona to win La Liga, the Champions League and the World Club Championship and picked up the award ahead of team-mate Xavi Hernandez and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid at the cermony in Zurich.
At the age of just 24 Messi joins the illustrious company of Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Michel Platini in winning the award three years running..
Celtic supporters were given an early glimpse of the Messi magic when he netted in Barcelona’s 3-2 win over Celtic in 2008 with Barry Robson and Jan Venegoor of Hesselink scoring for Gordon Strachan’s side.
Messi is the most high profile graduate of Barcelona’s reknowned academy and has been with the club since the age of 11 when he moved to Europe with his family and received treatment for a growth hormone deficiency.
In the video clip below you can see the magical skills of Messi at the age of ten! The twists and turns that have tormented La Liga opponents are all there alongside some lunging ‘tackles’ that have stood him in good stead for his future career.
Accepting the award last night Messi made special mention for team-mate Xavi saying: “It is a huge pleasure and honour to win my third award. I wanted to share it with those who voted for me, my coach and my team-mates at Barca and in the Argentina national team.
“Moreover, I want to share this award specially with my friend Xavi. This is the fourth time that we are are together at this ceremony and it is a pleasure for me to be with him on the pitch. This Ballon d’Or is also yours. Without your help I would not be here.”
Sir Alex Ferguson suffered more than most from Messi as Manchester United were outplayed in the Champions League final at Wembley.
Despite that the Old Trafford boss was fulsome in his praise for his chief tormentor saying: “Critics have always questioned whether players like Pele from the 50s could play today.
“The answer to that is great players would play in any generation. Lionel Messi could play in the 1950s and the present day, as could Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff because they are all great players. Lionel Messi without question fits into that category.”
CLICK HEREÂ for Nakamura free kick lands in passing bus
CLICK HERE for Kenny Miller’s Sky Sports misery
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook
the bit where he traps the ball about 1:40 from the keepers punt for a 10 year old is phenomenal! you can see why barca had signed him by 11!!
Here’s a wee lad that plays up in Stonehaven, he was 8 (9 now) when this was filmed by his Dad (a friend). Great wee player, I could tell when he was 2 and a half he had something natural about him, I remember passing a ball to him in the garden and his timing in kicking it back to me without stopping it was scary, time after time, better than some of the 7 year olds I was coaching at the time. Video is a bit repetitive but you get the idea, his finish at 55sec is superb and that’s in goals a fraction of the size Messi was shooting into!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF9fvGvwVT0