Lionel Messi was the overwhelming favourite to win the 2019 Ballon d’Or award from January until May.

The Barcelona legend was in scintillating form for pretty much the entire 2018/19 season, scoring a magnificent 51 goals in 50 games.

He also registered 22 assists in all competitions, meaning he was directly involved in a total of 72 of Barça’s goals last season.

Messi also played a key role in helping the Catalan giants win both La Liga and the Copa del Rey.

However, he was unable to inspire his team to glory in the Champions League, where Barça were knocked out in the semi-finals by Liverpool after one of the biggest second-leg capitulations in the competition’s history.

Nevertheless, that shouldn’t take anything away from the fact that Messi was Europe’s best individual performer over the course of the whole season.

Nobody produced more magical moments than the Argentine forward.

WhoScored.com gave Messi an average rating of 8.48 for the 2018/19 season. No other player scored higher than an 8, with the exception of Paris Saint-Germain duo Neymar (8.26) and Kylian Mbappe (8).

And to prove that Messi was in a league of his own last season, @UniversalStats on Twitter have posted a two-minute video of the 32-year-old’s standout moments.

“Two minutes of Lionel Messi's last season,” they tweeted. “Better than any world-class player's career highlights.”

Watch it here…

Stunning free-kicks, solo goals, chips, volleys, Panenka penalties, left foot, right foot - Messi performed all kinds of magic last season.

This is nothing new, of course. Messi performs magic week-in, week-out every season.

But after Messi was criticised for failing to win the Champions League and the Copa America, it’s worth reminding people that he was extraordinary throughout the 2018/19 campaign.

And no doubt it’ll be the same again next season, too.

Football’s GOAT is also a model of consistency,