With Barcelona’s 1:0 home win over UD Almería in La Liga yesterday, Lionel Messi (pictured left) and Xavi (pictured right) consolidated their respective leads in the FTBL world and European rankings of midfielders.

Messi earned 7.60 rating points and now has an overall FTBL rating of 218.85 points, while Xavi boosted his tally to 179.81 points.

The Argentina international leads over his closest rival (Xavi) in the world ranking by approximately 30 rating points.

Xavi’s lead in the ranking of European midfielders is not as dominating; just approximately 14 rating points over Chelsea’s Michael Ballack (165.04 points). Ballack will be “defending” more than 22 rating points today against Liverpool in the Premier League. His chances of overtaking Xavi appear, therefore, rather remote.