Lionel Messi s uncanny ability to create history continued with a record-breaking sixth Ballon d Or on Monday.
The decade-long monopoly on football s most prestigious individual prize held by the Barcelona great and Cristiano Ronaldo was broken a year ago by Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric.
But once again it was Messi s name on the prize as he added to the Ballons d Or he won in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Below, with the help of Opta data, we have scrutinised the numbers behind each of the years Messi has been named the world s best.
2009
Could there really have been any other winner in a year in which Messi swept every major honour? There were six collective titles in total as Pep Guardiola s star-studded class won La Liga, the Copa del…