One more than Ronaldo: Messi wins fourth ´Pichichi´ award

Lionel Messi ended the season having stolen a march once again on great rival Cristiano Ronaldo after ending the LaLiga season with 35 goals to earn a fourth top-scorer ‘Pichichi’ award.

The Barca icon has outscored Ronaldo by 37 goals to 25 to win the personal battle, although the Real Madrid man, winner of the ‘Pichichi’ on three occasions, is celebrating winning LaLiga and has a Champions League final to look ahead to.

As is now customary for Messi, this year has seen records fall at his magic feet, having racked up 500 goals for Barca with his last-gasp Clasico winner that helped push Madrid to the very end of another Spanish slog.

The Argentina star scored twice as Barca came from two goals down to beat Eibar 4-2, but it was not enough for the club to retain LaLiga as Ronaldo added to his own haul in Madrid’s 2-0 beating of Malaga – which saw Madrid win the league title for the first time since 2012.

Messi draws level with Madrid icon Ferenc Puskas with four ‘Pichichi’ wins. Telmo Zarra, who Messi overtook as LaLiga’s record scorer in 2014, holds the overall record with six.

The Pichichi winner has also won the European Golden Shoe in each of the past eight seasons, with Messi’s tally likely to win the continental award for the fourth time, with closest rival Bas Dost starting Sunday four goals behind before Sporting CP’s Primeira Liga concluder against Chaves.