Lionel Messi won a record-breaking sixth Ballon d’Or on Monday after another sublime year for the Argentinian, whose familiar brilliance remained undimmed even through difficult times for club and country.

Despite Barcelona’s collapse at the end of last season and Argentina losing to Brazil in the semi-finals of the Copa America, Messi’s genius was ever present in 2019, for which he now stands alone in the history of the game’s most prestigious individual prize.

In 54 appearances this year, Messi has managed an astonishing 46 goals and 17 assists while for Barca alone he hit 41 goals and 15 assists in 44 matches, which included seven doubles and three hat-tricks.

Ballon d’Or winners since 2007

Year Winner Second Third
2007 Kaka Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi
2008 Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi Fernando Torres
2009 Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo Xavi
2010 Lionel Messi Andrés Iniesta Xavi
2011 Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo Xavi
2012 Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo Andrés Iniesta
2013 Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi Franck Ribéry
2014 Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi Manuel Neuer
2015 Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo Neymar
2016 Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi Antoine Griezmann
2017 Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi Neymar
2018 Luka Modrić Cristiano Ronaldo Antoine Griezmann
2019 Lionel Messi Virgil van Dijk Cristiano Ronaldo

Four years after his last Ballon d’Or, Messi pulled clear of the five next to the name of Cristiano Ronaldo, and now owns twice as many as Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten.

Messi at Ballon d'or

Player Winner Second Place Third Place
Lionel Messi 6 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019) 5 (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) 1 (2007)
Cristiano Ronaldo 5 (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) 6 (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018) 1 (2019)
Michel Platini 3 (1983, 1984, 1985) - 2 (1977, 1980)
Johan Cruyff 3 (1971, 1973, 1974) - 1 (1975)
Marco van Basten 3 (1988, 1989, 1992) - -

Barcelona insist they have plans for coping with Messi’s dreaded retirement but the truth is their number 10 will be irreplaceable.

They know that; we know that and the world knows that.