The Official Barcaforum.com MoM-thread award
La Liga, Benfica, away (2-0)
1. Messi (42,2%) 2 assists, lost the ball a few times but he was involved in almost all of our most dangerous chances ~ Deco 20
2. Alexis (22,2%) Finally looked the way he should. Pacey, nice dribbling, danger in front of goal ~ CF4 1899
3. Fabregas (21,7%) Well played, he's slowly become an important part of the team and finding his best position on the field... ~ evilhita666
1st place goes to Lionel Messi with 42% of the votes, who for the 3rd game in a row failed to score, but instead again proved decisive with yet another assist brace. His first place takes his season tally to a mighty 4 1st, 2 2nd and 1 3rd place in the rankings. That's 7 podium spots out of a possible 10! This means he equals Xavi - who was conspiciously missing in action in tonights rankings - in over all apperances of the season.
While Messi isn't exactly a stranger in this topic, we have a virgin in second place! Alexis Sanchez rakes up 22% of the votes and makes his long sought after debut in the rankings. Like for Fabregas against Sevilla, hopefully this will be exactly the confidence boost that the much-maligned chilean needs in order to win the hard, cold hearts of the demanding culés. Up untill now this season, Alexis only managed to scrape together 11 points all in all. He earned just about 4 times as much from this sole match. Onwards and upwards, Alexis!
Speaking of troubled players, we have another one here who seems to be just a step ahead of Alexis Sanchez in regards to winning over the Barcaforum.com users. With just 0,5% less points than the aforementioned goal scorer of last nights game, we find the other player who managed to find the net against Benfica - Cesc Fabregas. After his impressive first place just 4 days ago, Cesc continues his rise to stardom with back to back featurings in the rankings.
Now the all important question begs to be answered: Will Tito have the balls to bench an in-form Cesc Fabregas for Iniesta who has just recovered from injury, against our arch rivals in el clásico this weekend? Or we could easily flip the question: does Tito have to balls to bench the second best player in the world even though he seems to be fit for fight? If only we had that kind of luxury in defense...
The shoutouts of today goes to Alba and VV. Both weren't really close to making the podium, but they still hauled a respectable amount of votes. This is new to Jordi Alba who, even though people on these forums seem fairly pleased with him so far, is amongst the lowest point earners so far.
A more personal thanks goes to stalwart quote-suppliers CF4 1899 and Deco 20 - and anyone else who bothers contribution of course - who makes it so much easier getting decent quotes for the recap. Thanks!