Lionel Messi is the best player on the planet over the past two years, triumphing in three consecutive seasons in La Liga, but also in this year's edition of the Champions League. This actually rewarded Messi also on the financial part, where, according to specialist magazine Fortunate 50, is the highest paid footballer of the moment. In the midfielder's accounts entered not less than 30.5 million last year, beating the traditional rival, Cristiano Ronaldo (27 million), and Wayne Rooney (23 million).
Fortunate 50 takes into consideration earnings, bonuses and advertising contracts of sports stars. Tiger Woods remains the world's highest paid athlete, earning another 46 million euros last year, 20 million less than last year. Even if he's the number one footballer, Barcelona's superstar is just seventh in the top, behind Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso, who is a big supporter of Real Madrid. Lionel Messi is the winner of the last two years of the Golden Ball and plays in the first team of the Catalans since he was 17. In his seven seasons at Camp Nou, Messi managed to score 119 goals. The only regret that the top scorer has is the lack of results from the national team, but this may change in July. Argentina will host Copa America and the player born in Rosario hopes to win the first trophy with the team led by Sergio Batista.
