Lionel Messi wins European Golden Shoe for record third successive year after Kylian Mbappe falls short

The Barcelona superstar’s 36 goals in La Liga have been enough to see him reign once more in Europe as the most prolific forward

Lionel Messi has made history after becoming the first player to win Europe’s Golden Shoe award for three straight years after his nearest challenger Kylian Mbappe failed to score the required four goals needed in Paris Saint-Germain’s final league match of the season on Friday.

Messi earned the honour, which goes to the leading scorer in league matches in Europe’s top divisions, for a record-extending sixth time after finding the net 36 times for Barcelona, while Mbappe ended the campaign on 33 goals after scoring PSG’s only goal in a 3-1 loss at Stade de Reims.

Messi now has two more than his nearest competitor: Cristiano Ronaldo.

While Messi’s goal haul helped his side clinch the La Liga title last month the 31-year-old Argentine said earlier on Friday that he was not giving the Golden Shoe race much thought with the side still coming to terms with their Champions League semi-final elimination to Liverpool.

“I haven’t been thinking about that prize at all, we are still coping with what happened against Liverpool and I’m not thinking about personal awards,” Messi told a news conference ahead of Saturday’s Copa del Rey final against Valencia.

Defeat would clearly hurt Messi and co. and prevent them from salvaging their season with Liverpool overriding their La Liga success.

“This is a final and not winning it would leave us much worse than we are now,” Messi added.

Messi hit 36 goals in La Liga this year (Getty)

Golden Shoe 2018/19 

1. 36 goals (72 points) – Lionel Messi, Barcelona 

2. 33 (66) – Kylian Mbappe, PSG 

3. 26 (52) – Fabio Quagliarella, Sampdoria

4. 30 (45) – Mbaye Diagne, Kasimpasa  

5. 22 (44) – Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich

5. 22 (44) - Sadio Mane, Liverpool

5. 22 (44) - Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

5. 22 (44) - Nicolas Pepe, Lille

5. 22 (44) - Duvan Zapata, Atalanta

5. 22 (44) - Krzysztof Piatek, AC Milan

5. 22 (44) – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal