Messi tipped for Ballon d’Or again

BARCELONA defender Gerard Pique has hailed team-mate Lionel Messi as the finest player in the world as the Argentinian waits to discover if he has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for 2011 today.

Messi, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2010 and was the FIFA World Player of the Year for 2009 as well, is on a three-man shortlist which also includes Barca team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo.

He enjoyed a stellar 2011, helping Barcelona to Champions League and Primera Division glory, scoring 31 goals in La Liga alone. In the 2011-12 campaign he has already scored a further 17 league goals, an incredible statistic for a player who is not an out-and-out striker, and Pique believes the 24-year-old is without equal on the planet.