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The year 2019 saw Lionel Messi become the first player to score in 15 consecutive seasons in the Champions League, score against 34 different opposition teams in the competition, and score in 16 consecutive Liga seasons.
The diminutive Argentinian also scored his 700th professional goal during the year, and he eventually became one of only two players to score 50 goals in 2019.
However, Messi wouldn't be the top scorer for a second consecutive year. A red-hot player from another league stole Messi's limelight, and shone a tad brighter than the Barcelona and Argentina captain.
Amongst 16 players to have scored over 30 goals for club and country during the year, let us meet the top 5 most prolific goalscorers as 2019 makes way for 2020.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus / Portugal): 39 goals
Despite a lukewarm year by his staggering standards, a nearly 35-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo produced another good scoring year.
The Portugal captain's record-equaling 8th Champions League hat-trick helped Juventus successfully overturn a 2-0 first leg Round of 16 deficit. But the Bianconeri exited the competition at the quarter-final stage despite Ronaldo scoring in each leg in a 2-3 aggregate defeat.
Ronaldo scored 17 Serie A goals in 26 games during the year, and he fell short of his first hat-trick in the Italian top-flight when the woodwork intervened in the game against Udinese this season.
The Juventus striker joined Raul as the only players to score against 33 different opponents in the Champions League. He narrowly failed to claim the record outright when his goal-bound free-kick against Lokomotiv Moscow was prodded across the line by teammate Aaron Ramsey.
The all-time Champions League top-scorer also dazzled in national colours during the year. Ronaldo scored in six consecutive Euro 2020 qualifying games, which helped defending champions Portugal seal qualification for the quadrennial tournament next summer.
Also check out: Premier League Table Champions League table La liga table 2019-20
#4 Raheem Sterling (Manchester City / England): 41 goals
Raheem Sterling has had a fine year for club and country, scoring 33 goals for his club Manchester City and 8 for England as the Three Lions successfully navigated their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
Sterling scored 8 goals and provided 5 assists during the first half of the year as City quelled a strong challenge from Liverpool to win back-to-back English top-flight titles. However, in the Champions League knockout round, despite Sterling's 4 goals in 4 games, City fell to fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in the quarter-finals.
The Englishman recorded his first Champions League hat-trick in a 5-1 home win over tournament debutants Atalanta. With 5 goals and 3 assists in 6 group-stage games, Sterling's hand in 8 goals in this season's competition was bettered only by Robert Lewandowski (10 goals) and Erling Braut Haaland (8 goals and 1 assist).
8 goals and 7 assists during the Euro 2020 qualifiers made Sterling the player with a hand in most goals during the qualifying campaign.
#3 Kylian Mbappe (PSG / France): 44 goals
With 20 Ligue 1 goals in the first half of the year, Kylian Mbappe's mid-season tally was only 2 shy of the next best season tally of Nicolas Pepe's 22, as the youngster produced a fabulous 33-goal French top-flight season.
In the Champions League this season, Mbappe's hat-trick against Club Brugges made him the youngest player to score 15 goals in the competition.
The French youngster continued his good form in the 2019-20 Ligue 1, racking up 11 goals in 12 games, as PSG go into the Christmas break with a handsome cushion atop the French top-flight.
Mbappe's 44 goals in 49 games for club and country during the year gives him a strike rate of 0.9 goals / game, which is bettered only by Robert Lewandowski (0.93).
#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona / Argentina): 50 goals
Producing yet another fabulous goal-scoring season for club and country, Lionel Messi's tally of 50 goals during the year is only bettered by one other player.
The Argentine magician scored 21 Liga goals in 19 games in the first half of the year as Barcelona won back-to-back Liga titles. A sixth season of topping the Spanish top-flight scoring charts took Messi level with Telmo Zarra's 66-year record of 6 Pichichi awards (top-scorer in a Liga season).
Messi's 6 goals in as many games in the knockout round of the 2018-19 Champions League almost took his side to their first final in the competition in four years. But they squandered a three-goal lead in the second leg of their semifinal defeat to eventual winners Liverpool.
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The only blot in another fabulous year for the Barcelona captain came at the Copa America in Brazil. Argentina's defeat to eventual winners Brazil in the semis extended Messi's and the Latin American nation's long trophy drought in major international competitions.
Despite a belated start to the 2019-20 season owing to injuries, Messi became the first player to score in 16 consecutive Liga seasons, 15 consecutive Champions League seasons, and against 34 different opponent teams in the Champions League. He also took sole ownership of most Liga hat-tricks (35).
It marked the 9th time in the last 10 years that Messi scored 50 or more goals for club and country, his 2013 return of 45 goals being his most modest return during this spell.
#1 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich / Poland): 54 goals
Robert Lewandowski's decent return of 12 Bundesliga and 6 DFB Pokal goals in the first half of the year may be described as modest compared to what was in store for the prolific Bayern Munich marksman in the second half of the year.
The Poland international became the first player to score in a record 11 consecutive games since the start of a Bundesliga season. Lewandowksi goes into the winter break with a handsome return of 19 goals in 17 games and well in sight of equaling or surpassing Gerd Muller's record Bundesliga season tally of 40 achieved four and a half decades ago.
In the Champions League, Lewandowski was one of two players, the other being Erling Braut Haaland, to score on each of the first five Matchdays of group-stage action. The Pole recorded the fastest ever Champions League quadruple when he scored four goals at Crvena Zvezda in a devastating 14-minute blitz.
Lewandowski became the first player to score 3 hat-tricks in Euro qualifying (2 in Euro 2016 qualifying, 1 in Euro 2020 qualifying), as his 6 goals in 10 games helped Poland qualify for the 2020 European Championships next summer.
Among the year's top 5 scorers for club and country, Lewandowski's strike rate of 0.93 goals / game (54 goals in 58 games) is the best.
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