MONACO: Lionel Messi is officially the best player in Europe, according to UEFA, who today named him as both the overall winner of the European Club Footballer of the Year award and as the European Club Forward of the Year for his exploits when his club, Barcelona, swept all before them.

The overall prize saw Messi shortlisted alongside the other three positional winners, who are revealed below, before he received the grand award.

The shortlists, as well as the final winners, were selected by sixteen of Europe's top coaches, namely those who led their sides to the First Knockout Round of last year's competition.

As expected, FC Barcelona dominated the nominations and ended up scooping two of the possible five accolades, while English sides such as Manchester United and Chelsea - not to mention Liverpool - were not far behind. Every single nominee came from one of these four clubs.