The last 6 players who have beaten Cristiano Ronaldo to the Golden Boot: Messi, Salah…
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored goals wherever he’s played his football – but there have been plenty of times where the unthinkable has happened and he’s been pipped to the Golden Boot.
A man who’s closing in on 1000 career goals before he retires, Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s all-time top scorer with 451 goals from 438 games, holds the record for the most goals in men’s international football with 133 and counting for Portugal, and has four European Golden Shoes.
That makes this exclusive club of players who have managed to beat him to the Golden Boot in recent times all the more remarkable.
Abderrazak Hamdallah
An incredible feat, Hamdallah will forever be remembered as the man who denied Ronaldo the Saudi Pro League Golden Boot in 2022-23.
Admittedly, the Portuguese forward only arrived in the league with Al Nassr in January, while Hamdallah had the full season with Al Ittihad, but that doesn’t take away from his achievement.
He scored 21 goals for the season, but considering Ronaldo arrived halfway through the season and finished with 14 in 16, he still did extremely well to take home the Golden Boot.
Mohamed Salah
Ronaldo’s return season at Manchester United was a strong one on a personal level, even if it all fell apart around him. He scored 24 goals in all competitions, 18 of which came in the Premier League despite United finishing sixth with just 58 points.
However, his efforts were still bettered by Salah, who smashed in 23 goals in the league alone for Liverpool and claimed the third Premier League Golden Boot of his career.
Son Heung-min
It wasn’t just Salah who outscored Ronaldo in 2021-22. The honours were shared as Son also finished the season with 23 Premier League goals, the pair sticking it to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and his black box dye.
Spurs ended up finishing fourth that season thanks to Son’s scoring efforts, some 13 points ahead of United. It’s probably actually a testament to Ronaldo’s qualities that he was able to score 18 league goals in such a chaotic side.
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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every male footballer to win the Ballon d’Or?
Ciro Immobile
The eternal Serie A top scorer, it feels like Immobile was firing them in at an alarming rate for years at Lazio after leaving Borussia Dortmund, but nobody outside of Italy ever really took notice.
Ronaldo certainly would’ve noticed, however, as he outscored him in what was his final season at Juventus. Despite the Old Lady winning the Scudetto, Ronaldo was beaten to the Capocannoniere.
Somehow, his 31 goals weren’t enough to clinch the award as Immobile scored an astonishing 36 goals as Lazio finished fourth.
That haul saw him equal the record for the most goals scored in a Serie A season and saw him win the European Golden Shoe for the first time in his career.
QUIZ: Can you name the top scorer for every Serie A season since 1990?
Fabio Quagliarella
From failing to win the Champions League to being outscored two seasons in a row, Ronaldo just couldn’t catch a break in Turin.
Before Immobile’s crowning season, the forward was again pipped for the Golden Boot in 2018-19 by a timeless Quagliarella of Sampdoria.
Two years older than Ronaldo, the then-36-year-old scored 26 goals from 37 games as Samp finished ninth in the league. Juventus, naturally, won the title, but Ronaldo finished fourth in the top scorer rankings, with Duvan Zapata and Krzysztof Piatek both scoring more than the Portuguese.
Lionel Messi
Of course it’s not a Ronaldo list without Messi here to spoil the party. The Pessi/Penaldo debate will outlive us all.
The last time the Argentine pipped his greatest rival to the Golden Boot was in their final season against each other in 2017-18, when the pair were neck and neck in La Liga. Messi finished with 34 goals from 36 games while Ronaldo managed 26 from just 27 games played.
He won’t mind too much, though, as Los Blancos won the Champions League for the third time in a row, with Ronaldo finishing as the competition’s top scorer with 15 goals.