Lionel Messi wins ESPY award for Best International Athlete in 2015

Lionel Messi has won yet another award, this time in recognition of his outstanding season with FC Barcelona, adding one more to the long list of accolades given to him on the international stage throughout his career.

The FC Barcelona striker won the 2015 ESPY Award for Best International Athlete — an award which is presented annually by the American sports media giant ESPN and which he previously won in 2012 — at a gala held on Wednesday night at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

In the final vote Messi beat out the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, the reigning number one player in the world, the British Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, the Korean golfer Lydia Ko, the world's top-ranked woman, and the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the award last year.

Other previous winners include the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, the Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer, and the power-hitting Dominican Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Messi finished the 2014/15 season as Barça's top goalscorer, notching 58 goals in leading the team to an unprecedented second Treble in club history.