Lionel Messi Ranked Only 10th In The 100 Best Players Of 2020 By Madrid Media

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi was surprisingly named the 10th best player of 2020 by Spanish media.

The 33-year-old Argentine forward scored an impressive 31 times and registered a whopping 27 assists in 44 appearances last season.

Barcelona failed to defend the La Liga title in the previous campaign, with fierce rivals Real Madrid capturing the league title.

That was coupled with the Spanish club's Champions League woes as they were dumped out of the quarter-finals in a humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich.

Despite Barcelona's disappointing season, Messi performed well on the individual front and has the stats to back up such a claim.

However, Madrid-based newspaper Marca dropped its rankings for the 100 best players of 2020, with Messi sitting all the way down in 10th place.

The publication wrote: "There's not much left to say about Messi.

"He won the Pichichi top goalscorer award in La Liga Santander, as well as registering the most assists (21).

"But it was his off-pitch activity that made most of the headlines in 2020, particularly his explosive burofax and interview stating his wish to leave Barcelona."

Messi, who will become a free agent next summer, has candidly opened up about his transfer saga with Barcelona in the summer and his troubled relationship with former club president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Posted below are Marca's top 50 from its 100 best players of 2020.

PA

50. Jesus Navas (Sevilla)

49. Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)

48. Rodri (Manchester City)

47. Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)

46. Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)

45. Andy Robertson (Liverpool)

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44. Ansu Fati (Barcelona)

43. Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)

42. Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)

41. Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain)

40. Alisson (Liverpool)

39. Ederson (Manchester City)

38. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

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37. Jules Kounde (Sevilla)

36. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)

35. Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich)

34. David Alaba (Bayern Munich)

33. Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid)

32. Angel Di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain)

31. Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan)

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30. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

29. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)

28. Timo Werner (Chelsea)

27. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

26. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan)

25. Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich)

24. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

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23. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)

22. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

21. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

20. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)

19. Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

18. Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)

17. Thiago Alcantara (Liverpool)

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16. Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich)

15. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

14. Ciro Immobile (Lazio)

13. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

12. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

11. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

10. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

9. Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)

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8. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)

7. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

6. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain)

5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)

4. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

3. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

2. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)

1. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

PA

Topics: Football News, Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, La Liga, Barca

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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