Was Lionel Messi Robbed Of Argentina’s Player Of The Year Award? [POLL]

Close your eyes. When you think of the best Argentinian soccer player in the world, who comes to your mind? If you answered, Lionel Messi, you would be wrong. On Wednesday, the Argentine Sports Journalists Circle announced the winner for the Argentinian Player of the Year for 2014 and shockingly, it was not “La Pulga.”

Messi has won the award nine times and was most people’s favorite to win the award for a record 10^th time. As it was, he scored 51 goals in 2014 and added 23 assists. Comparatively, his closest competition came from friend and teammate (and eventual winner), Angel Di Maria who scored only eight goals and had 24 assists.

The numbers would seem to sway in the favor of Messi, but clearly the Argentine Sports Journalists must have been looking at something more than just statistics in choosing a winner. The current Manchester United star, Di Maria, won the UEFA Champions League, the Copa Del Rey and the UEFA Supercup trophies in 2014 while playing for Real Madrid.

Barcelona star Messi, won no hardware in 2014, but did win the Golden Ball during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and was phenomenal throughout group play in the tournament. Were not quite sure what the criteria in choosing a winner was, but we certainly feel that Lionel Messi was robbed of his 10th Argentinian POY award. Di Maria’s accolades are nice, but he was not alone in achieving them. Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, Gareth Bale and others all helped Di Maria win silverware in 2014, while once gain Messi’s individual numbers blew any other player in Argentina out of the water.