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What's the story?
Lionel Messi made history by winning the European Golden Shoe for a third consecutive season. The 31-year-old was the topscorer of Europe's top five leagues yet again whereas his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo failed to even make it into the top 10.
In case you didn't know
Messi enjoyed another stellar individual campaign with Barcelona but failed to help the Blaugrana in their quest for Champions League and Copa del Rey glory. With 51 goals in all competitions, the Barca captain remains the only player to score 50 goals in the current campaign.
Messi also secured his 6th Pichichi trophy as he finished on top of the La Liga goalscoring charts by some margin. The 31-year-old has scored 36 goals in the La Liga, helping the Catalan giants win their 8th title in the 11 years. Moreover, Messi also leads the scoring charts in the Champions League with 12 goals despite crashing out in the semi-final stages of the tournament.
On the other hand, Ronaldo has played a pivotal role for the Old Lady since moving to Turin from Real Madrid last summer. With 21 goal in the Serie A, the Portuguese superstar helped the Bianconeri clinch their eighth consecutive league title. As a result of his exploits in the Italian top flight, Ronaldo won the Serie A's player of the year.
The heart of the matter
Messi won his sixth European Golden Shoe, beating Kylian Mbappe who ended in the second place with 33 goals. Messi had virtually secured the European Golden Shoe a week ago, with Mbappe failing to score five goals in his last Ligue 1 fixture.
Serie A top scorer Fabio Quagliarella needed 11 goals in his last game to beat Messi and the Argentine's win was confirmed after the Serie A campaign ended last night. Ronaldo finished in fourth place in the Serie A goalscoring charts and ended up outside the top 10 in the European Golden Shoe rankings.
What's next?
Both Ronaldo and Messi will now focus on their respective National team duties as the 2018/19 domestic campaign has now ended.
