Tuesday 18 December 2018 14:49, UK
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi received his record fifth Golden Shoe award on Tuesday for leading all of Europe's leagues in goalscoring last season.
Messi's fifth win breaks the tie he had with Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 31-year-old scored 34 goals in La Liga last season to lead Barcelona to the title. Liverpool's Mohamed Salah was the second leading scorer of Europe's domestic leagues with 32 goals in the Premier League.
Messi also won the award in 2009/10 (34 goals), 2011/12 (50), 2012/13 (46) and 2016/17 (37).
The Argentina international currently leads Europe's top leagues with 14 goals this season.
"I love football, but when I started I didn't expect all this. My dream was to be a professional player," Messi said.
"This is thanks to the hard work and effort I have put in, and above all to my teammates. I have the best players in the world at their positions playing beside me."
Messi is Barcelona's all-time leading scorer with the club crediting him with 572 goals in 655 games.
The Golden Shoe is awarded by European Sports Media, an association of European sports newspapers and magazines.
