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Join Goal.com in saluting another player worthy of global recognition

Welcome to Goal.com's regular feature: Goal.com World Player of the Week. Each week our worldwide team of editors will put forward a selected candidate, as chosen by Goal.com International, who deserves recognition for achieving something special that matchday. It won't necessarily be the best player in the world - at least not usually - but whoever we nominate will have accomplished something amazing. It might be for a particularly awesome performance or for something praiseworthy off the pitch - either way, the person in question deserves special attention...

Goal.com World Player of the Week #123: Javier Pastore
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Country: Argentina
Age: 22
Role: Playmaker
Achievement: Inspired PSG to back-to-back wins

When Javier Pastore moved from Palermo to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, it was Serie A’s loss and Ligue 1’s gain.

Rated as one of the best attacking players in Europe and said to be the ‘Argentine Kaka’, Pastore has burst into life in the early stages of the championship in the French top flight and was a star in the past week.

The Argentina international won two penalties for PSG in midweek against Nice at home in their 2-1 victory, and then scored twice against Montpellier in their 3-0 away win at the weekend, with his first a superb volley.

Pastore’s sensational performance has lifted PSG to joint top with Olympique Lyonnais and Toulouse on 17 points from eight matches.

Congratulations to Javier Pastore, Goal.com's 123rd World Player of the Week!



Honourable Mentions

Burak Yilmaz –  Trabzonspor

Yilmaz scored a hat-trick to lead his team to a 3-1 victory over Karabukspor in the Turkish Super Lig.

Lionel Messi – Barcelona

The Argentina international was in stupendous form in the past week, as he provided the assists for both goals in Barcelona’s 2-2 draw with Valencia at the Mestalla in the Primera Division in midweek, and then netted a hat-trick as the Catalan giants destroyed Atletico Madrid 5-0 at Camp Nou on Saturday evening.

Dries Mertens – PSV

Mertens found the target no fewer than four times for PSV to lead them to a comprehensive 7-1 victory over Roda JC in the Eredivisie on Saturday. He has now bagged 11 goals in seven league matches.

Dwayne De Rosario – DC United

He scored a hat-trick and assisted the other in a 4-1 win over Real Salt Lake, bringing his goal-tally for the season to a league-high of 13. He also has 11 assists heading into the final few games of the season.

Robin van Persie – Arsenal

The Netherlands international forward scored his 99^th and 100^th goals for Arsenal as he netted a brace against Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates in their 3-0 victory in the Premier League. Van Persie is only the 17^th Arsenal player to reach the milestone.

Diego Souza – Vasco da Gama

Diego Souza scored four goals in two games to consolidate the Rio side’s position at the top of the table in the Brazilian championship.

Dejan Damjanovic - FC Seoul

The Montenegrin scored a hat-trick in their 4-1 win over Daejeon to take his tally to 22 goals in 25 games. Damjanovic has been a key player as Seoul, the Korean champions, have won nine of their past 10 K-League games to move into third ahead of the play-offs.

Leave your notes of congratulations for Javier Pastore below, or discuss who else deserves a place in the spotlight this week...