Golden Boot 2018-19: Messi's consolation prize

Lionel Messi has officially claimed the Golden Boot award after the 2018-19 season with a total of 36 goals. Kylian Mbappé was his only real challenger, but without managing to score in PSG's underwhelming final match, the Argentine claims it yet again.

Fabio Quagliarella is in third place with a total of 26 goals, managing to resist Duvan Zapata and Mbaye Diagne who sit on 23 and 30 goals respectively. (Diagne competes in the Turkish League, meaning his goals count for slightly less).

Here lies the crowd, all tied on 44 points. Six players have all scored 22 goals, all of them in leagues where the multiplication factor is two. Time to refer to minutes played to break the tie.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose league season is now over, retains sixth place, but seventh is now Robert Lewandowski.

Krzysztof Piatek, who did not score in the final round, has finished with 22 goals in 2,973 minutes, so he has not surpassed his rivals in Serie A, nor has he been able to retain seventh place. He ends up eighth, as he plays 14 minutes more than the Bayern striker.

Ninth is Sadio Mané, who finds himself one place above his teammate Mohamed Salah, both with 22 goals at the end of their season.

Lille striker Nicolas Pépé is left out of the standings by minutes played, having not scored for Lille against Rennes.

Golden Boot 2018/2019​ (26-05-2019)

1.- Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain), 36 goals, 72 points
2.- Kylian Mbappé (PSG, France), 33 goals, 66 points
3.- Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria, Italy), 26 goals, 52 points
4.- Duván Zapata  (Atalanta, Italy), 23 goals, 46 points
5.- Mbaye Diagne (Kasimpasa-Galatasaray, Turkey), 30 goals, 45 points
6.- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal, England) 22 goals, 44 points (2,732 minutes)
7.- Robert Lewandowski (Bayern, Germany), 22 goals, 44 points (2,959 minutes)
8.- Krysztof Piatek (Genoa, Italy), 22 goals, 44 points (2,973 minutes)
9.- Sadio Mané (Liverpool, England) 22 goals, 44 points (3,086 minutes)
10.- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, England), 22 goals, 44 points (3,261 minutes)

It must be remembered that the European Golden Boot only counts goals scored in the league. To calculate points, 'European Sports Media' applies a multiplier to each league based on its UEFA ranking. This means goals scored in the five biggest leagues (Spain, France, Germany, England and Italy) are given a multiplier of 2, while those scored in lower-ranked leagues are multiplied by 1.5. Minor leagues do not have any multiplier applied.

In the case of two players being level on points, the one with the fewest minutes played in the league is ranked higher.