Top Five Forwards of 2012
The top five forwards in the world of football have become such a regular feature in headlines that even rival fans can do nothing but salute their art.
It's the time of the year again where we pick out the year's top performers and here, we pay tribute to the men who starred throughout the year with their goalscoring exploits.
Here, ESPNSTAR.com picks out five forwards (in no particular order of merit) who won games, titles and accolades with their uncanny ability to find the back of the net.
2012 in Football Part 1: Drama and dramatics
2012 in Football Part 2: Drama and dramatics
Robin van Persie (Manchester United, Holland)
Van Persie was a major factor in Arsenal's resurgence last season. Having plummeted to 15th after seven games, the striker dragged Arsene Wenger's men into third spot with 25 Premier League goals in the remainder of the season.
When the Dutchman moved to Old Trafford in a transfer that still rankles the Emirates faithful, there was uncertainty about the amount of time it would take for him to make an impact at Old Trafford.
Van Persie has emphatically laid those fears to rest, forming a lethal partnership with Wayne Rooney and Co. He currently leads the Premier League goal-scoring charts with 14 goals to his name and looks set to lead United's title charge come 2013.
Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina)
The Argentinean star has done it all this year - broken Gerd Muller's calendar-year record, scored a hat-trick in a Superclasico and honed his finishing skills to near-perfection.
It's not been the most successful year of his career, though, as he has only a Copa del Rey medal to show for it but it would be difficult for the football community to overlook him for a fourth straight Ballon d'Or accolade after notching ninety goals in a single year.
It is this assassin-like efficiency that has made Messi break a series of records and become an almost ever -present name on the scoresheet for Barcelona.
Football fans around the world have been blessed to have witnessed the Argentinean maestro in action and rival defences must shudder at the thought that Messi, at 25, may not yet have reached his peak.
Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid, Colombia)
Atletico have ridden on the broad shoulders of their Colombian forward to enter the upper echelons of European football.
Thanks to Falcao's 45 goals in 2012, the lesser-known of the two Madrid sides lifted the Europa League and the Super Cup last season and currently occupy the dizzying heights of second in La Liga, seven points ahead of their city rivals, and it's undoubtedly mainly due to their hugely talented forward.
Unsurprisingly, Falcao has been linked with big names across Europe. And even though Los Rojiblancos will regret yet another prolific striker leaving the Vicente Calderon after Sergio Aguero and Fernando Torres, at least they will receive adequate compensation this time, having attached a massive price-tag to Falcao.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal)
Ronaldo has continued his remarkable 2011 goal-scoring spree. Even sweeter for him, he also won his first La Liga trophy as well as the Supercopa de Espana, denying arch-rivals Barcelona in the process.
With Messi breaking numerous records and Falcao wowing the crowds on a regular basis, Ronaldo has, however, been somewhat pushed back into the shadows of late. However, this goal-scoring machine has continued to bang them in with ridiculous consistency, whether it be cutting in from the wings or playing as a lone frontman for Los Blancos.
At the time of writing, Ronaldo has 58 goals to his name for Madrid this year and many of them have come against the continent's top defences, including the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
The new season may not have started so well for both player and club with reports of internal unrest having dominated headlines back in September this year. But Ronaldo is still fully capable of driving the side on in their quest for the Decima - a coveted tenth Champions League title.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, AC Milan, PSG)
Ibrahimovic joined the seventh different team of his career after making a big-money transfer to Qatari-backed Paris Saint-Germain in the summer transfer window. News of the move was vilified by fans of former club AC Milan and it can be considered as a step down as the Ligue 1 side don't exactly look capable of achieving continental success.
But that should not take away the gloss from what has been a superb year on an individual level for the Swedish star.
The PSG striker has the ability to single-handedly change the course of a game and he demonstrated exactly that with four goals against England in a friendly in November, including an overhead kick from distance that enraptured football fans all over the world.
Such is his brilliance that the Swedish language has also been amended to include a new verb - zlatanera. The Swedish Language council have specified that "to zlatan" roughly translates as the ability to dominate as he has done in Ligue 1 where he has already scored 18 goals from 19 appearances.
They say actions speak louder than words.
Sometimes, they change them as well.