The best player in the world

PARIS: Argentina's Lionel Messi won the Golden Ball awarded to the European Footballer of the Year with the biggest margin ever on Tuesday following an exceptional season with Barcelona.

Messi became the sixth Barcelona player to take the award and the first since Brazilian Ronaldinho in 2005. He beat last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo into second place while Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez finished third in the poll results released by France Football.

Hailed by Argentina great Diego Maradona as his successor, Messi won an unprecedented treble in Spain last season with Barcelona as the Catalan side swept the Champions League, the Spanish title and the Copa del Rey.

Messi, who tallied 473 of a possible 480 points, largely dominated the voting and won with a record-margin of 240 points. Real Madrid winger Ronaldo had 233 and Xavi had 170.

"Honestly, I knew that I was among the favorites because Barcelona had a fruitful year in 2009," Messi was quoted as saying by the magazine. "But I didn't expect to win with such a margin. The Golden Ball is very important to me. All the players who won it were great players, and some great players never won it

I'm very happy about messi getting golden football. He's the best of all players. He's the world best player.
Xavi and Iniesta are also a good players but Messi is the best of all. Even Cristiano Ronaldo is also a good player. But Messi is one step front of him.