Lionel Messi wins La Liga player of the month for the first time as Barcelona given second winner in three months
Only two Barcelona players have won the award since its inception in 2013 despite the club winning La Liga last season
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Your support makes all the difference.Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has been named the La Liga player of the month for January.
While the news is hardly ground-breaking given the Argentine’s extensive list of accolades, the incredible fact is that Messi has never won the award until now, with a Barcelona player only winning being heralded as the league’s best player for a calendar month last November when Neymar won the award.
The fact that Messi had not won the player of the month gong during his career will astound many, although it must be added that it was an award that was created in September 2013 for the start of the 2013/14 season.
Still, it meant that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had been beaten 22 times despite being standing as the second-highest goalscorers in La Liga throughout the past two-and-a-half years, with only Cristiano Ronaldo scoring more goals during that time period.
Messi scored six goals in five La Liga outings last month, which included the opener in a 2-1 win over title rivals Atletico Madrid and a hat-trick against Granada.
La Liga Player of the Month winners
| Month | Year | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | 2013 | Diego Costa | Atletico Madrid |
| October | 2013 | Koke | Atletico Madrid |
| November | 2013 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid |
| December | 2013 | Carlos Vela | Real Sociedad |
| January | 2014 | Ivan Rakitic | Sevilla |
| February | 2014 | Rafinha | Celta Vigo |
| March | 2014 | Keylor Navas | Levante |
| April | 2014 | Diego Godin | Atletico Madrid |
| May | 2014 | Diego Godin | Atletico Madrid |
| September | 2014 | Nolito | Celta Vigo |
| October | 2014 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid |
| November | 2014 | Carlos Vela | Real Sociedad |
| December | 2014 | Luciano Vietto | Villarreal |
| January | 2015 | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid |
| February | 2015 | Alberto Bueno | Rayo Vallecano |
| March | 2015 | Vitolo | Sevilla |
| April | 2015 | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid |
| May | 2015 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid |
| September | 2015 | Nolito | Celta Vigo |
| October | 2015 | Borja Baston | Eibar |
| November | 2015 | Neymar | Barcelona |
However, despite Barcelona enjoying two winners in the space of three months, they still trail runaway leaders Atletico who have seen four of their players win the award a total of six times, with both Antoine Griezmann and Diego Godin taking the accolade twice along with successes for Koke and former striker Diego Costa.
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