One of the enduring images from the night Barcelona beat Manchester United in the European Cup final last May is of the second Barca goal.

Stage left, Rio Ferdinand transfixed by what he sees to his right. Centre stage, Leo Messi hanging in the air two feet above the ground heading goalwards.

And in the background Edwin van der Sar rooted to the spot, palms facing outwards, the look of dread on his face.

Messi was doing what everybody said he couldn't do — scoring with a header — and he was doing it in the most important game of his life.

Not only did Barcelona win the Champions League that night and complete the treble, but Messi settled an argument.

After two below-par performances against Chelsea in the semi-final — although it was his pass that led to Andres Iniesta's late goal — people were again questioning if in fact it wasn't Cristiano Ronaldo who was the best player on the planet, but in Rome, Ronaldo failed to score and lost, Messi scored and won. Case closed.

And ultimately that’s why he was yesterday named as the winner of the coveted Ballon d'Or as Europe’s top player in 2009.

The comparisons with the brilliant Ronaldo underline what makes Messi so special — it simply shouldn't be so. How does this pasty-faced, slightly stumpy-legged kid out-do the bronzed-adonis?

A sickly child with a growth problem who was rejected by River Plate because they couldn't afford the expensive hormone treatment he needed, Messi was snapped up by Barca aged 13 in spite of doubting scouts who said he would be 'fine for table-football but little more.'

Now standing at 5ft 7ins he remains a marketing man's nightmare who does nothing more than raise his arms or shyly flick the hair away from his eyes when he scores and who sounds like a Spanish-speaking Peter Beardsley when he mumbles his way through press conferences.

He shouldn't be the greatest — but he is.

Last season nobody in Barcelona's triple winning side scored more goals in all competitions than Messi who notched 23 in 31 games in the league, six in eight cup matches and nine times in Europe.

The goals came in the important matches too.

He scored in the Spanish Cup final and in the 6-2 thrashing that Barca inflicted on Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

In both those games and in the final in Rome he was employed by Pep Guardiola as what the Spanish call a false centre-forward —starting in the middle of Barcelona's front three, but dropping into that no-man's land between the opposition's defence and midfield.

Flanked by Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry who both had the pace to prevent the opposition risking too high a line of defence he dropped off to link brilliantly with Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta in Barcelona's midfield.

The three formed a footballing Bermuda Triangle where almost every team they faced was lost without trace.

Last season was Messi's best so far and it was also coach Guardiola's first.

His arrival brought a high-intensity football that suited the Argentine and a more serious training regime that helped him stay injury-free after three previous seasons where he always missed at least ten games.

Muscle has been bulked onto the magic.

Now it's the physical strength as well as the quick feet that make him almost impossible to stop and despite being famously accused of ‘theatre' by Jose Mourinho in 2006 he is one of the least guilty of 'looking for penalties' in a league where diving is far more acceptable.

Messi is the first Barcelona youth team player to win the prestigious individual honour.

It's been a long road since the club agreed to pay for his medical treatment.

But as Charly Rexach, the man who discovered him, remembers: “When we gave him a trial we weren't going to bother unless he was literally brilliant — and he was.”