Messi awarded Europe best player

 　　MONACO, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Lionel Messi was voted the inaugural¹ winner of the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award on Thursday, which replaces the European Footballer of the Year award.

　　The Argentine striker beat Barcelona teammate Xavi Hernandez and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo in a poll of 53 sports journalists representing each of the UEFA member associations.

　　"I'd like to thank all the people that voted for me, and all my teammates," Messi said at the awards ceremony in Monaco.

　　"I keep all these awards at home and I still have some space for more. It's an honor to be so successful and to come up with the goods at the right time. Thanks to my teammates for helping² me achieve this."

　　Messi, 24, scored 53 goals last season, including 12 in the Champions League, where he finished as the top scorer for the third season in succession, scoring in the 3-1 victory over Manchester United in the final.

　　Four Barcelona players were in the top 10, with Andres Iniesta fourth and Gerard Pique³ joint⁴ eighth.

　　Porto's Falcao was fifth, the Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic sixth and seventh, Zlatan Ibrahimovic of AC Milan alongside Pique in eighth and Germany keeper Manuel Neuer, who has moved from Schalke to Bayern Munich, 10th.

1 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 pique   

v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气

参考例句：

• She went off in a fit of pique.她一赌气就走了。
• Tom finished the sentence with an air of pique.汤姆有些生气地说完这句话。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。