For the first time in over a decade, we sincerely had to ponder our No.1 selection but in the spirit of VAR, we found no clear and obvious reason to rule out Messi from the summit.There's no denying Messi has evolved. He has lost a fraction of his blistering pace but his intelligence and manipulation of the football means his control over the result of games remains as strong as ever. He is not an all-action terrier, he won't pitch in with too much dirty work, but to count that against him is to miss the point entirely.Messi continues to dominate games – both subtly and explicitly – for club and country. His performances directly inspired Argentina to Copa America and World Cup trophies, and has transformed rock bottom MLS team, Inter Miami, into cup finalists in the space of a month.Messi's time at the top will come to an end, very conceivably soon, but for now, we can't find a justification to drop a player with such talent, such influence and impact, with such recent success and fuel left in the tank. The magician reigns supreme.
