WHO WINS THIS YEAR'S BALLON D'OR

You probably know the answer. Just when Barcelona seemed to lag behind, He dragged them back in front.

What counted against him for the Ballon d’Or were Barcelona's failings last season. They ceded the title to Madrid and crashed out of the Champions League against Juventus, their 4-0 collapse at PSG denoting deep-running flaws. All they had left was the Spanish Cup. As their old identity got lost under Luis Enrique, not even Him could paper over the cracks.

This season, however, Barcelona are favourites for their seventh league title in 10 years and, with every coach who passes through the Camp Nou, it becomes increasingly clear that this will go down as the era of Him. More so than ever, this campaign has shown that they’ll always have a chance with him, almost irrespective of surrounding factors. Even as the club has been rocked by the Catalan independence issue and internal turmoil, he has kept the team winning.

He also had time to send Argentina to the World Cup, salvaging a qualifying campaign beset by chaos and ineptitude by sealing the deal with a typically stunning hat-trick in Ecuador.

At 30, he shows no signs of slowing down. That is not only good news for his club and country, but for all of us who so enjoy seeing him play.

And that man is Lionel Messi.