50 Great Footballers Who Ruled 2012

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Unfortunately for all the players on this list, and every other player in the world for that matter, they are left in the short but formidable shadow of perhaps the greatest player to ever compete in world football. There is very little to be said at this point because everybody who has read this list will have known that Lionel Messi would be number one. Why is that, you may ask if you have been living under a rock for the past 12 months? Messi is the epitome of how a footballer can play. In 2012 he scored a remarkable 91 goals in all competitions, both domestic and international, making him the player to have scored the most goals in a calendar year, surpassing the legendary Gerd Muller. While his 2012 was not littered with the usual truckload of medals and trophies, Messi's year was more about individual glory, winning his fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or, certainly not his last and will almost certainly never be matched ever again. In the 2012/13 season he has already scored 44 goals for Barcelona, and as soon as he lines up against the opposition there is very little if anything defenders can do to prevent him adding to his immense tally. Messi may end up breaking every record it is possible for him to achieve, and with over a decade of playing left in his career, it is very possible he will end up going down as the best footballer in history. Currently he has no equal, and you could count on one hand the number of comparable players in footballing history. FIFA 13 Rating - 94 I hope you enjoyed the list of the greatest footballers in 2012, and feel free to mention any player that I may have missed from this compilation. I'm sure there are plenty I have missed out, and if I could have made a list of 100 greatest players of the year, then I'd be bored out of my mind by now.