La Liga: Ranking the top five 2020-21 Player of the Season candidates

2. Real Madrid CF Karim Benzema

Now we move on to the favorites. I will be met with derisive comments by some for placing Karim Benzema in second, so I want to make it clear that the battle between No. 1 and 2 is the closest between any of the placings on this list.

Benzema, like Iago Aspas is to Celta Vigo, is the lifeblood of Real Madrid’s attack. You only have to watch one game with Mariano Diaz starting to see how bad this team is without Benzema, though you could also argue that Benz’s importance is partially the fault of the club for not believing more in Luka Jovic.

However, can Jovic, or anyone else, do what Benzema does? No striker on this planet has Benzema’s dribbling skills or creativity. He picks up the ball anywhere and charges at defenders before setting up a teammate. And he can finish off a move on his own. Benzema can score in pretty much any manner. So far this season, he has 21 goals despite missing some time due to injury.

1. Barcelona CF Lionel Messi

Yet another center-forward makes the list. Everything I said about Karim Benzema and Iago Aspas is only magnified when talking about Lionel Messi. It is dishonest to say that there is a better player in La Liga than Messi. Most valuable is very much a debate. But best? C’mon.

Any Madridista saying otherwise is doing a disservice to their own club, actually, because Messi is the reason why Barcelona are even in the title race. On overall squad quality, this team is nowhere near Real Madrid nor Atletico Madrid.

Messi may not have scored in El Clasico whereas Benzema scored a brilliant backheel, but I still find it hard to deny La Liga’s top scorer the top spot for now. As we saw against Getafe, Messi can completely dominate matches in a way that nobody else in the league can.

The numbers are astonishing. In addition to his 25 goals and 9 assists, Messi is averaging 4.3 dribbles completed per game, 2.4 fouls drawn per game, and 2.3 key passes per game. Even if we consider that Messi’s stats can be inflated by the fact that Barcelona use him so heavily, I’m not sure we can penalize him for that since, you know, Barcelona HAVE to use him.

WhoScored has given Messi their Man of the Match honors 19 times this season. That right there seals his place at the top. La Blaugrana would be a joke without Messi, especially with Ronald “But the refs!” Koeman managing the team.