The world’s greatest player of all time.

At merely 28 years old and likely still in the midst of his prime, Messi has transcended his sport in a way nobody else ever had before. And long before his body of work is completed, it seems certain now that he'll be remembered as the greatest of all time.

It was formerly disputed that Messi was greater than Pele but after he came out as the new King of football at ballon d'Or yesterday, surely there's no debate to be had any longer. Let's take an honest assessment of things and consider all the competitions both players have been involved in.

Throughout Pele's career as a football player, he never played in an European competition where the best players in the world battled for top spot. He only faced international competition every four years (at the World Cup). 

Messi on the other hand plays in Europe every week facing the toughest competitions ever and still he has been the key player in the team not only by scoring but also creating chances. The little dribbler has won the Champions League four times and La Liga seven times – and counting. He has also lead his club side to win six trophies during the course of one year. Though he is yet to win the World Cup, he has led his team to the 2014 World Cup and 2015 Copa America finals. Messi has truly proven to be unmatchable.

It's been established for some time now that Ronaldo, while also surely one of the best ever, isn't quite up to his level either.

At the very top, there is only Messi. He was the best in 2015, and he's been better than every other man in any year before it.

A preview of his records in 2015 are listed below:
*61 games, 52 goals and 26 assists.

*A goal every 101 minutes and an assist every 202 minutes.

*Best minutes-per-goal rate - 80 - of anyone scoring a minimum of 10 goals across Europe's top five leagues during 2015.

*Directly involved in 49 goals in La Liga - 34 scored and 15 assists - which was the joint-most with Ronaldo in 2015 across the top five European leagues.

*Scored in all six club tournaments in 2015, as Barcelona won five of them.

Congratulations! to Messi. we hope to see him beat his records this 2016.