Legend Lionel Messi collects record seventh Pichichi award
Barca legend Lionel Messi, on Tuesday, secured the prestigious Pichichi trophy for a record seventh time. The trophy, named after Athletic Bilbao's legendary striker Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, is awarded to the top-scorer of La Liga. Messi received the accolade after scoring 25 goals in the 2019/20 season, his lowest tally since 2008/09. He also registered most assists (21) during the season.
Most Pichichi trophies in the history
Messi has won most number of Pichichi trophies in the La Liga history (7). He earlier shared the record with Telmo Zarra, who won six Pichichi trophies while playing for Athletic Bilbao in the 20th century. The former won the first of his seven Pichichi awards in the 2009/10 season, clinching the top honor again in 2011/12, 2012/13, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Messi bagged the accolade for the fourth straight year
Messi became the third player to receive the Pichichi award the fourth consecutive year (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20). Only Alfredo Di Stefano (1955/56, 1956/57, 1957/58, 1958/59) and Hugo Sanchez (1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87, 1987/88) have achieved this feat before.
The lowest tally for Messi since 2008/09
As mentioned, Messi finished as the top-scorer in the 2019/20 season with 25 goals. However, this was his lowest tally of goals since 2008/09, when he netted 23. He scored 34, 31, 50, 46, 28, 43, 26, 37, 34 and 36 in the following seasons. Interestingly, Messi also holds the record for most goals in a single La Liga season (50 goals in 2011/12).
Most number of goals in La Liga history
Messi has been ruling La Liga ever since he made his debut for Barcelona in 2004/05. He has scored a record 450 goals from 498 games in the league thus far. His ground-breaking feat makes him stand atop the list of goal-scorers in the league. Notably, he has a lead of a staggering 139 goals from the second-ranked Cristiano Ronaldo (311).
Would prefer to win La Liga for Barcelona: Messi
Despite this terrific achievement, Messi seemed disgruntled due to Barcelona's poor show. They finished as the runners-up, five points behind eventual winners Real Madrid. Barca also suffered their worst defeat in Champions League history, having lost the final eight clash to Bayern Munich 2-8. "I would prefer to win La Liga before getting the Pichichi, we are fighting towards that," Messi on the achievement.
