Messi only player in history to receive a perfect rating from L’Equipe twice

The footballing world has run out of words to describe Lionel Messi. The little Argentine is arguably the best player in the history of the sport and at the age of 33, still has a legitimate claim to be the best on the planet at what he does.

And while such things don’t necessarily have full-proof methods of measurement, it’s very interesting to note that Messi is also the only player ever to receive a perfect 10/10 rating from L’Equipe twice.

The French outlet is notorious for driving a hard bargain when it comes to analysing and ranking players and only a selected few get perfect marks across the board. For instance, since their inception back in 1946, only 11 players have been awarded a 10/10 for a total of 12 occasions.

And of course, the only reason there are 11 players and 12 occasions is because Messi has received a perfect score twice and is the only player with such an honour. The first game that saw him register what was considered a perfect display was against Arsenal in the Champions League, back in 2010.

The Argentine scored four goals, even prompting Arsene Wenger to call him a ‘PlayStation player’. Two years later, once again the Champions League, Leo bagged five goals against Bayer Leverkusen for his second-ever 10/10 performance.

Now, while L’Equipe are far from someone with the authority to proclaim someone the very best, it’s quite telling that Messi is the only player in history to achieve the 10/10 score twice in his career.

If you need more proof that they don’t just give away such marks to anyone for any kind of performance, note that Kylian Mbappe’s demolition of Barcelona in the Champions League was only enough for a 9/10.

This suggests you really have to be special to bag the perfect score across the board.

And needless to say, Messi is quite special.