Another day, another award for Lionel Messi as he has been named the Best Playmaker of 2022.
The PSG superstar’s position as a number 10 at the World Cup in Qatar and at Paris Saint-Germain has led to him receiving yet another individual honor to add to the incredibly long list.
The Argentine star has scored 170 points in the ranking. This season he has provided 30 assists and 102 key passes. The second-placed player is Luka Modric.
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The Croatian has scored 115 points to take second place for a trophy he has never won.
Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Antoine Griezmann are in the top six, but much further away from the top two of Messi and Modric.
The current Barcelona coach Xavi is the only one who comes close to Messi’s number of awards. Xavi has won Best Playmaker on four occasions, one less than the Argentine.
Also read: Lionel Messi named L’Équipe’s best male athlete of the year
Behind them, only two men: Andreas Iniesta and De Bruyne. The Spaniard has won the award twice, while the Belgian has won the award twice under Pep Guardiola.
Earlier, Lionel Messi was named as L’Équipe’s “Champion des Champions”, the best male athlete of the year for the second time.
Rafael Nadal of tennis had 285 points, while Kylian Mbappe of football finished in second position with 808 points.
This is the second time Messi has won the award, having previously won it in 2011 and is the only footballer to have won it twice, excluding the award which is specifically for French athletes. For football players, prior to him was Zinedine Zidane in 1998, Romario in 1994, Diego Maradona in 1986 and Paolo Rossi in 1982.
