Lionel Messi wins his 8th Pichichi Trophy after netting 30 goals

Lionel Messi has won the 2020/2021 Pichichi Trophy. It was his 8^th Pichichi award and the fifth consecutive one. The Barcelona captain scored 30 goals in 35 appearances in the La Liga. No other player in the history of the Trophy has won it more than six times. Barcelona finished the La Liga season in the third spot after winning the final match 1-0 at Eibar. Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema were the closest rivals as both of them netted 23 goals apiece for their respective clubs. Luis Suarez finished fourth with 21 goals as he led Atletico Madrid to the title.

In what was a disappointing season for Barcelona, Messi was once again the shining light. The Argentine scored 40 goals and registered 11 assists in all competitions for the Catalan club. He won the top scorer’s award for the first time in the 2009-10 season when he netted 34 goals and scored 50 goals in the 2011-12 season which has been the maximum number of goals he has scored in a single La Liga season.

In La Liga Santander, Telmo Zarra is Messi’s closest rival with six awards. Hugo Sanchez and Alfredo Di Stefano have won five each and the longest streak of both of them was four seasons. Messi is also Barcelona’s all-time leading goal scorer with 663 goals from 768 appearances. He is their top scorer in La Liga (467), the Champions League (120) and European competitions (123).

Messi missed Barcelona’s final match against Eibar as they were already out of contention for the title and he wanted to get some rest ahead of International duty. Ronal Koeman’s side ended the season with 79 points from 38 games. Meanwhile, they won the Copa del Rey title beating Athletic Club 4-0 in the final courtesy of Messi’s two goals. The 33-year old striker’s future at the club is still uncertain as the contract expires at the end of next month and there hasn’t been any official announcement regarding the renewal of the contract.

He will be representing Argentina in the Copa America starting from June 14 at home. The first match will see host nation Argentina take on Chile.