The Lionel Messi Trophy? Tebas open to idea for LaLiga's best player
LaLiga president Javier Tebas likes the idea of naming an award in honour of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi.
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Lionel Messi is "the best in football history" says LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who would be open to naming a trophy for the competition's best player in his honour. Barcelona superstar Messi, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, is LaLiga's all-time leading goal scorer with 390 goals and has lifted the title on nine occasions.
The Spanish top-flight's end-of-season awards have not been handed out since the 2015-16 campaign due to a desire to reformat, and Tebas would be keen to show recognition for the 31-year-old in the same way daily sports newspaper Marca have named accolades after Telmo Zarra, Rafael 'Pichichi' Moreno and Ricardo Zamora.
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Messi "the best player in football history" - Tebas
Asked about dedicating a trophy to Messi, Tebas told Omnisport: "I like that idea, we would have to think about. I think Messi will be the best in football history, he already is. Some people talk about Neymar but he is already 26 years old and as far as I remember Messi started to play for Barcelona as a youngster and he surprises us every year he seems not to have limits and he plays at a maximum level. He is the best and I think it's a great idea to create a trophy for the best player every season named [after] Leo Messi. If it is Zarra for the best scorer…I think it's a great idea."