Another day, another award for the resplendent Lionel Messi.
The magician has bagged the coveted European Golden Shoe for a record fifth time in his career, moving the Barcelona megastar ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in the all-time honours list, with the Juventus man on four Golden Shoes.
The prestigious accolade has been handed out since 1967/68 to the leading goalscorer from all of Europe’s leagues, and it’s Messi who won the race in 2017/18 after accumulating a haul of 34 goals over in La Liga, as his Barcelona side scooped the Spanish title.
Next in the running was Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah who notched 32 goals over in England, a record in the 38-game Premier League era. Meanwhile, Harry Kane amassed 30 top-flight strikes for Tottenham.
Ciro Immobile had a cracking campaign for Lazio, scoring 29 goals in Serie A, the same number as Inter Milan’s Mauro Icardi, and Bayern Munich talisman Robert Lewandowski.
Edinson Cavani (28), Ronaldo (26), Jonas (34), and Luis Suarez (25) made up the top-10 - the award is based on a points system meaning Benfica’s Jonas didn’t score as highly despite his tally of 34 goals (he doesn’t play in one of the top-five leagues).
Messi could well be set to win the Golden Shoe for a sixth time this term as he currently leads the way with 14 goals to his name - meaning he now has 572 goals for Barcelona - ahead of PSG’s Kylian Mbappe (12).
The Argentine previously finished top of the pile in 2009/10 (34), 2011/12 (50), 2012/13 (46), and in 2016/17 (37).
“I love football, but when I started I didn’t expect all this. My dream was to be a professional player,” Messi said in quotes via AP News.
“This is thanks to the hard work and effort I have put in, and above all to my teammates. I have the best players in the world at their positions playing beside me.”
Take a look at the award presentation for the coveted honour.
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