Lionel Messi has won his sixth European Golden Shoe (third in a row), awarded to the player in any of Europe’s top-flight leagues with the most league goals.
Messi has scored 36 goals in 34 games in LaLiga Santander this season. Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe was the only player capable of capturing Messi in the standings, but he finished the season with 33 goals.
On Friday’s final day of the Ligue 1 season, Mbappe had to score five against Reims but could only manage one as PSG lost 3-1. Despite most of Europe’s leagues finishing in the last couple of weeks, Ligue 1 finished only on Friday night, which means there was a chance that the Frenchman could finish top.
This is the third year in a row that Messi claimed the award and the 11th campaign where the winner came from LaLiga Santander, although in 2014 Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez shared the shoe.
“Honestly I am not even thinking about the Golden Shoe. [It’s] not in my head at all. What happened at Liverpool is in my head,” he said, per the BBC.
Cristiano Ronaldo was the last player to not play for a Spanish club to win the award when he scored 31 goals in the 2007/08 Premier League campaign. The Portuguese have four Golden Shoes in total.
Messi has scored 50 goals in all of this season’s competitions and hopes to lead his side to a domestic double when they play Valencia in Copa del Rey final.