30.09.2010 12:40
Messi to receive Golden Boot
Edgar Fornós
Leo Messi’s 34 league goals last season were enough to win him the award for topping the European club goalscoring charts. He will collect the trophy this afternoon at the Estrella Damm factory in Barcelona.
This is the first time the world’s greatest player has won this accolade. He won by scoring
five more times than the players that ended joint second, Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and
Udinese’s Antonio Di Natale, both with 29.
Record breaking campaign
The 2009/10 season was Messi’s fifth as a pro, and in it he produced an extraordinary
34 league goals. He had previously scored 23 in 2008/09, while his first three seasons pale in
comparison: 6 (05/06), 14 (06/07) and 10 (07/08).
Yet more prestigious silverware
The Golden Boot is just the latest major honour to be won by Leo Messi.
He has already won the FIFA World Player and the Balon d’Or, which is sufficient recognition
of his place as the best player in the world – he has won the three most important individual
awards in the world. The original trophy will now go on display in the FC Barcelona Museum for the
next week.
Ronaldo only player to match him
Only Ronaldo, now more than ten years ago, has managed to win the Golden Boot while playing for FC
Barcelona. He did that in 1996/97, when the Brazilian scored the same number of goals as Leo Messi,
a total of 34.