Leo Messi’s two goals in Barcelona’s win over Eibar have put the Argentine ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for Europe’s Golden Shoe
. Leo Messi’s two goals in Barcelona’s win over Eibar have put the Argentine ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in both the Spanish Pichichi and the race for Europe’s Golden Shoe.
Messi scored his 31st and 32nd goals in the 2014-15 La Liga campaign, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, whose recent dip in form has allowed his El Clasico counterpart to recover from a slow start to the season.
Cristiano Ronaldo came surging out of the gates to start the season, while Messi continued to take a backseat as the team adjusted to their massive summer changeover.
Messi’s preference in providing assists over scoring goals led to Cristiano having as much as a 12-goal advantage over the Argentine by 13th December with the Portuguese international scoring 25 goals to Messi’s 13.
However, the start of 2015 has been a far different story for the La Liga giants, as Barcelona’s form has improved as the team continues to build chemistry, which has allowed Messi to score 17 goals in La Liga, in just two months while Cristiano has stagnated scoring just five in the new year.
Messi has also climbed atop the European Golden Shoe race, with Cristiano coming in second, JK Tallinna Kalev’s Kabaev in third, Eintracht’s Meier in fourth and Lyon’s Lacazette to round out the Top 5.
Last week, European footballer of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo helped himself to one goalscoring record and equalled another as holders Real Madrid booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Ronaldo is now the all-time leading goalscorer in European competition after two goals in the upset 4-3 defeat against Schalke took his total to 78, surpassing the previous record held by another former Real stalwart, Raul.
But, perhaps more importantly for his intense rivalry with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Ronaldo equalled the Argentine’s Champions League record of 75.
Last year he led Real Madrid to their 10th European Champions title, but their first in 12 years, smashing Messi’s record of 15 Champions League goals in a single season with 17 in just 11 appearances along the way.
This season, he has already netted 30 times in the league and eight times in the Champions League, matching Messi goal for goal.
It also means he has now scored 60 times in 59 Champions League appearances for Real.
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