Barcelona's Lionel Messi wins Golden Shoe for record-equalling fourth time

Lionel Messi has won the European Golden Shoe for a record-equalling fourth time, drawing level with Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.

Edin Dzeko was the last player who could deny him the honour, but the Roma striker needed to score 10 times against Genoa on Sunday to overtake the Barcelona forward. Dzeko did net in the game, but only once.

Messi, 29, scored twice against Eibar last weekend to finish the Liga season as top scorer on 37 goals, giving him 74 Golden Shoe points with each goal worth two points in the table.

Sporting Lisbon striker Bas Dost scored a hat trick in his final match against Chaves to finish second with 34 Portuguese Primeira Liga goals and 68 points.

Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was third with 31 goals in the Bundesliga to take the Torjagerkanone in Germany.

Messi previously won the award, which counts goals in the biggest leagues as more points, in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

Since Ronaldo won the Golden Shoe as a Manchester United player in 2007-08, every winner has come from a club in Spain -- though in 2013-14 Liverpool's Luis Suarez shared the award with Ronaldo.

Golden Shoe table
Lionel Messi, Barcelona, 74 points
Bas Dost, Sporting Lisbon, 68
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Borussia Dortmund, 62
Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich, 60
Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur, 58
Edin Dzeko, AS Roma, 58
Luis Suarez, Barcelona, 58
Dries Mertens, Napoli, 56
Edinson Cavani, Paris Saint-Germain, 52.5
Andrea Belotti, Torino, 52
Romelu Lukaku, Everton, 50
Anthony Modeste, Cologne, 50
Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, 50

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