• ESPN Sports Personality of the Year - No. 2

Lionel Messi - Arguably the greatest ever footballer

Lionel Messi broke Manchester United hearts with the winner for Barcelona in the Champions League final © Getty Images

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• Profile: Lionel Messi

The past 12 months of the sporting calendar have thrown up a plethora of memorable performances, including a near-invincible tennis star, a globally-loved golfing success story, and a footballing magician who seems only to need one foot. Leading up to Christmas, ESPN will name its top 10 sports personalities of the year in ascending order...

Five trophies won, 55 goals scored (at club level), three records broken, and a third straight Ballon d'Or award surely in the bag, it's been a decent year for Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

Having begun 2011 by being awarded the Ballon d'Or for his exploits in 2010, it was difficult to imagine he could possibly top his achievements in the next 12 months.

The reality? He bettered all of them... and then some.

"The greatest player we've ever seen, better than Diego Maradona or Pele," commented former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness. It is an opinion that gathers more credence with every passing game.

Messi's answer, of course, to winning the Ballon d'Or in January was to score a hat-trick against Real Betis two days later. That game acted as one of 16 consecutive league wins for Barcelona - a new La Liga record, and it was Messi who brought up victory No. 16 with a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid. Record number one in the bag.

A second landmark quickly followed when Barca became the first Liga side to go 20 consecutive away league matches undefeated. Messi was the man to score the only goal in a 1-0 win at Valencia, but he was only just getting warmed up.

Next the little magician broke the record for goals scored in a single season at Barcelona, netting his 48th against Shakhtar Donetsk. Record number three signed, sealed and delivered, and now it was time for trophies.

Arguably the goal of the year: Lionel Messi strikes against Real Madrid © Getty Images

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The Spanish title was a breeze for Barca, but to win the European Cup they would need to beat, firstly, arch rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals and then Manchester United in the final at Wembley.

Madrid came to spoil in the first leg at the Bernabeu and Barcelona were every bit as ugly in a horrible game of football, but Messi shone like a beacon. Having already broken the deadlock, he then picked the ball up 45 yards out, rounded three Madrid defenders like a slalom skier and slotted the goal of the season past Iker Casillas to effectively book Barca's ticket to the final.

There they met a United side sensing destiny on the ground where they won their first European Cup. But with the game locked at 1-1, Messi shifted the ball ominously to his left boot and punctured United hearts with a 25-yard rasper, confirming his status as the ultimate player for the ultimate occasion.

He ended the season with 53 goals in 55 appearances for Barcelona in all competitions, not to mention 24 assists.

Time for two more pieces of silverware at the start of the 2011-12 campaign, first in the Spanish Supercup where Messi scored three and created the other two in a 5-4 aggregate win over Madrid. Comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo had never looked so ill-founded.

Next Messi scored and created in a 2-0 UEFA Super Cup triumph over Porto, his vision, balance, imagination, close control and sheer genius seemingly extending to even greater heights.

Two more landmarks were reached by the time the year was out, becoming Barcelona's second highest goalscorer of all time first in all competitions (when scoring his 195th) and then in La Liga (with his 132nd).

As if all that wasn't enough, Messi picked his last game of 2011 - the FIFA Club World Cup final - to net two more stunners, leading Barca to their fifth piece of silverware in an unrivalled year. A third consecutive Ballon d'Or crown is almost certainly on its way for Messi, an achievement only previously earned by Michel Platini back in 1985.

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