IANS
NYON, AUGUST 27
Spanish giants FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi was declared winner of the European football governing body UEFA's goal of the season for 2014-2015 on Thursday.
Messi scored a stunning goal against German champions Bayern Munich in the Champions League first leg match of the semi-final on April 6.
The match was locked goalless till 77 minutes, then two goals from Messi and one from Neymar secured a spectacular 3-0 win for Barcelona at their home ground.The Argentine left Bayern defender Jerome Boateng floundering before deftly chipping the ball over goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to score his second goal of the match and put Barcelona into a commanding first-leg lead in their semi-final.
The Argentine skipper earned 39 percent of the 507478 number of votes polled.
The second prize for the best goal went to Spanish team Real Madrid's star striker Cristiano Ronaldo's strike against English outfit Liverpool FC, which received 24 percent of the votes.
The third best goal was given to English club Aaron Ramsey's effort against Turkish giants Galatasaray, which got 9 percent of the votes.
Barcelona went on to win last season's Champions League, beating Italian side Juventus 3-1 in the final.
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen won the best save of the season for his brilliant stop against Bayern in the semi-final.
Never said would quit Argentina: Messi--CLIPPING
Argentine forward Lionel Messi on Friday hit out at local media for reports stating he would take a break from his national side after a disappointing performance in the Copa America.
The 28-year-old star was put under the scanner by the local media after his side went down to Chile on penalties in the Copa America final.
Argentina coach Gerardo Martino backed the forward and said he would have gone away if he was subjected to the media abuse which Messi had to face. "I never said that I wasn't going to play any longer with the national team," Messi was quoted as saying by goal.
"The media can't kill me any more than they already have," he said.
"I am used to them saying these types of things. Now we have friendlies and as long as the coach calls me up I am going to continue to be present."
The four-time world player of the year is in Martino’s squad to face Bolivia and Mexico in the United States of America (USA) next month.
The talismanic striker has scored 46 goals from 103 outings for his national side, just 10 behind Argentina's all-time top goalscorer, Gabriel Batistuta.
