Lionel Messi wins the Best Athlete award at ESPY

Los Angeles: Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been voted the Best International Athlete at the 2012 ESPY awards held here on Thursday.

The Argentine had a record-breaking season at Camp Nou, scoring 50 goals in La Liga and 73 goals in the 2011-12 season. He also finished as the UEFA Champions League's top scorer for a fourth consecutive season with 14 goals.

Messi received the award for his Excellence in Sports Performance - an accolade started in 1993 by sports network ESPN to recognise both individual and collective team achievements.

Barcelona\'s star player has been voted Best International Athlete at the 2012 ESPY awards.

The pint-sized magician held off a stiff competition from a host of world's biggest sporting stars like Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng, as well as his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

NBA star LeBron James walked away with a trio of trophies after being voted the Best Male Athlete, Best NBA Player and winning the Best Championship Performance award.

Meanwhile, LA Galaxy midfielder and former England international David Beckham got the Best MLS Player Award. This might ease his disappointment of being omitted from Team Great Britain's football squad for the 2012 London Olympics later this month.

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