Barcelona sensation Lionel Messi, who beat the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez to bag the UEFA Best Player in Europe for the 2014-15 season, was honoured for scoring the best goal of the season by the European football governing body.
Fans voted for their favourite goal in the UEFA competition last season, and the little magician's solo effort against Bayern Munich in the semifinal first leg clash in the Champions League, attracted the most number of votes.
The goal received 39% of votes from users of the UEFA official website.
Messi rode on one of his individual tricks as he dribbled and got past German defender Jerome Boateng, who just had no idea of how to stop the sprinting forward. The Argentine's delightful chip at the end stole the hearts of the fans, and even Manuel Neuer -- regarded the best goalkeeper in the world today -- had no answer to that.
"I only found out about the best goal prize when I arrived here," Mundo Deportivo quoted Messi as saying. "I depend much on the team, like everyone else. If we had not had a good team, we had not achieved everything that we achieved last season."
The little magician from Argentina played an instrumental part for his team last season as they bagged the treble of the La Liga title, the UEFA Champions League, as well as the Copa del Rey.
Looking back at the performances of Barca last season, the 28-year-old said that the team have worked as a unit to get the results, and it was just not his individual performances that did the trick.
"This [UEFA Best Player in Europe] prize brings me a lot of joy," Messi said. "It was an incredible year for us. I don't know about secrets, but there is a united dressing room which was able to have an incredible year.
"It came out as we wanted, and we achieved our objectives. I want to thank all my teammates. We all represent something. If not for all of them, not Barca, nor I, would be here."
Messi finished as the joint top-scorer in the UEFA Champions League last season, alongside Ronaldo and Neymar, with ten goals. The 28-year-old also scored a total of 58 times in all competitions for Barca last season.
He is also the only Barcelona player to feature in the UEFA Team of the Year.
