Lionel Messi is often brought up in discussions about who is the greatest player of all time, and rightly so. But, despite that, it would appear that he is following in the footsteps of Vincent Van Gogh in so far as being unappreciated in his own time (or his league at least).
Lionel Messi has never won a La Liga player of the month award. I kid you not.
— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) June 9, 2015
Understandably a lot of people were in disbelief at that stat but, since the award was first handed out in September 2013, the Argentine maestro has been entirely absent.
It will be particularly irksome for him to see that arch rival Cristiano Ronaldo has won the award twice putting him in joint first place for most wins, an honour shared with Arsenal reject Carlos Vela amongst others.
Although the fact that Messi has yet to earn at least one win is surely reason enough to render the whole award null and void. It is interesting to note that no Barcelona player has earned the honour, despite winning the treble this year.