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What’s the story?
Lionel Messi looks looks bound to lift his sixth Golden Shoe for scoring the most goals in Europe's top 5 leagues as Kylian Mbappe failed to close in on the deficit in Paris Saint-Germain's last game of the league this season.
In case you didn’t know..
The Argentine ace has scored 36 goals in La Liga this season and right behind him in the second place is Mbappe who closed the Ligue 1 season with a tally of 33 and fell short of three goals to match the Barcelona captain. Coming in third is Fabio Quagliarella who is Serie A's top scorer with 26 goals.
The heart of the matter
Although Serie A has a game week left to play, it looks like the five time Ballon d'or winner has already wrapped up his sixth Golden Shoe as Quagliarella is 10 goals behind Messi and getting past him in a single game is improbable.
Messi will become the first ever player to lift the Golden Shoe for a record six times as Cristiano Ronaldo's tally stands at five.
Meanwhile the Frenchman needed 4 goals to level in on the tally of Messi but scored just once in Parisians 3-1 loss to Stade Reims. It seems like Mbappe's three game ban by the French Football Federation (FFF) for his red card in Paris Saint-Germain's Coupe de France final defeat to Rennes has worked out in the favor of the Argentine international. The 20 year old was banned after was he sent off for a reckless challenge on Damien Da Silva.
This is the sixth time Messi will lift the Golden Shoe and will become the first player to lift it three times in a row (2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018-19) . He first won the award back in 2011–12 when he scored 50 goals in La Liga.
What's next?
Lionel Messi in his recent interview said he does not eye individual trophies and wants his side to focus on bringing home the Copa Del Rey as they face Valencia this weekend in the finals.
