MESSI WINS GOLDEN SHOE
Baku, May 18 (AZERTAC). Lionel Messi added the European Golden Shoe to his growing list of awards after scoring twice against Real Valladolid to finish the La Liga season with 34 goals.
The rankings on Euro Top Foot showed the Argentina striker had amassed 68 points, 10 more than his closest rivals Didier Drogba of Chelsea and Antonio Di Natale of Udinese who scored 29 each.
Messi netted Barca`s third and fourth goals in a 4-0 victory over Valladolid that delivered Barca their second consecutive league title on Sunday.
"Messi is the best I have ever seen, of this there is no doubt," Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said.
"As well as being a winner he has great ambition. At 3-0 up, with the league in the bag, he continued chasing as hard as anyone else. He`s impossible to emulate."
His haul of 34 in the league matched the club record set by Brazilian striker Ronaldo in the 1996-7 season, when he also won the Golden Shoe.
Atletico Madrid`s Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan won the shoe last season with 32 goals.
According to the points system for the European Golden Boot, goals scored in the Spanish, English, French, Italian and German leagues are all valued at two points each. Goals scored in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Scotland, Greece, Holland, Israel, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine are all worth 1.5 per goal. The remaining leagues carry 1 point for each goal scored.
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