Lionel Messi has been in fine form this season and has already won a staggering 27 Man of the Match awards - that's seven more than Cristiano Ronaldo (14), Gareth Bale (3) and Karim Benzema (3) together.

Read: Messi 21, Ronaldo 13

The Argentine is the best performer among Europe’s top five leagues, based on WhoScored ratings, and has also received the most Man of the Match awards by the stats website.

In fact, Messi has been so good this season that only on 11 occasions he was not named the best player on the pitch.

Overall, the 27-year-old received an average rating of 8.81 out of 10, and leads the ranking ahead of Arjen Robben (8.58) and Cristiano Ronaldo (8.43).

His recent performance in the 6-1 thrashing over Rayo Vallecano, which saw him scoring a hat-trick and assisting another goal, was his tenth 10/10 rating this season.

Messi’s worst game was back in November when his side beat Almeria 2-1, but his error led to the opposition goal.

The four-time Ballon d’Or winner has started 2015 in hot form after scoring 18 goals and assisting a further nine in his first 16 games.

Read: Messi Came From 13 Behind To Catch Ronaldo

He received the Man of the Match award in 12 out of these 16 matches since turn of the year and helped Barcelona to regain the lead in La Liga as well as to qualify for the Copa del Rey final.

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