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#2 Lionel Messi
Messi led Europe in scoring this recently ended season with 45 goals in all competition which included three "hat-trick" and one haul for him.
The 5-time Ballon d'Or winner has scored 643 official goals for club and country in 816 total matches. The Argentinean earned the "Pichichi" award for the fifth time in his career as the top scorer in Spain in 2017/18 season with 34 goals with Barcelona.
The Argentinean is without a doubt a candidate to earn the Golden Boot as he has netted 64 times in 124 international games and this year he has scored three goals with his national squad.
Messi has scored five times in the World Cup in three participations but failed to score in South Africa 2010. He has the responsibility to guide Argentina to the trophy after the collapse in 2014's final against Germany.
As long as Messi he keeps healthy Argentina will show up and the 30-year-old forward plans to retire of his national squad if the team underperforms in Russia. Messi suffered muscle soreness entering 2018 but right now he is ready to represent his country in the most important event of the year.
