Ranking the 5 greatest calendar year performances in football history
Throughout the history of the game, there have been numerous stellar performances by players for club and country. Often, these performances come in particular competitions and rarely extend to all competitions across the year.
Just Fontaine scored 13 goals in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup while Michel Platini netted nine times in the 1984 European Championships. Iker Casillas was phenomenal at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as were Gianluigi Buffon at the 2006 edition and Jordan Pickford at Euro 2020. All three keepers kept five clean sheets at those respective events. These are some of the few such instances of tremendous individual performances at major tournaments.
Nevertheless, there have been a few players who have produced truly memorable performances throughout a calendar year. Some of them have even done so on multiple occasions. So without further ado, let's have a look at the five greatest single-year performances by a player in the history of the game:
#5 Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina) - 60 goals (2010)
Lionel Messi truly had a memorable year in 2010. The Argentine scored goals galore, especially in La Liga, where Barcelona were in the midst of a three-peat. Messi scored 25 league goals to help his club successfully defend their league title.
The 2009 Ballon d'Or winner also sizzled in continental competitions. After a brace against Stuttgart, Messi produced a four-goal salvo against Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals. However, Barcelona were stopped by Inter Milan in the last four.
Messi endured an uncharacteristically poor campaign at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, failing to score in five games, though he assisted thrice. Nevertheless, he started the 2010-11 season on fire, netting 17 league goals to set Barcelona on their way to another La Liga title.
Overall, Messi scored 60 goals in 64 games during the year, winning the La Liga and Super Cup titles, and his second Ballon d'Or award.
#4 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool/Netherlands) - 2019
Less than a year after arriving at Liverpool in 2018, Virgil van Dijk made his presence felt in the heart of the Reds' defense.
The Dutchman was a stellar performer in both the Premier League and the Champions League. Van Dijk was a rock in the Liverpool rearguard, tallying almost one tackle and interception per game. Impressively, he wasn't dribbled past even once as Liverpool fell short by a solitary point to Manchester City in the league. They then went on to beat Tottenham Hotspur to win their sixth Champions League title.
Van Dijk was on a tear as Liverpool emerged as the runaway leaders in the first half of the 2019-20 Premier League season. The Dutchman noticeably improved the Reds' defense as opponents found it difficult to score against Liverpool when Van Dijk was on the field.
Virgil van Dijk made a very compelling case to win the Ballon d'Or award that year before narrowly missing out to Lionel Messi. The Dutchman said:
"It was an amazing year, but there's a couple of players like that who are a bit unnatural. So you need to respect greatness as well. I was close, but there was just someone a little bit better. I'm very proud of what I achieved last year with Liverpool and the Netherlands, and hopefully we can do that again this year. But that will be tough with those guys around here still."