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Only a few players have outdone Messi...

The last 6 players who have beaten Lionel Messi to the Golden Boot: Benteke, Ronaldo…

Lionel Messi has won eight league Golden Boot awards throughout his illustrious career as only a select few players have been able to outscore him.

Along with being one of the greatest goalscorers of all time, Messi also ranks among the best dribblers and creative players in the world. It’s no wonder most people consider him to be the GOAT.

We’ve gone back through his career and have found the last six players who have beaten Messi to a league Golden Boot award.

Christian Benteke

Considering Messi only started in 15 MLS matches this season, it’s amazing in itself that he was even in contention for the top-scorer award.

However, despite bagging 20 goals in just 19 MLS appearances for Inter Miami, he was narrowly beaten to the Golden Boot by Benteke.

The Belgian forward has looked rejuvenated since joining DC United where he scored 23 goals in 30 league appearances for the club in 2024.

Denis Bouanga

Given Messi only joined Inter Miami halfway through the 2023 campaign, he was never going to get his hands on the MLS Golden Boot award last season.

Instead, Bouanga managed to win the prize by scoring 20 goals in 31 appearances for Los Angeles FC. Since Messi joined MLS, Bouanga is one of the few players who has managed to outscore the Argentine star.


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Kylian Mbappe

During Messi’s two seasons with PSG, he didn’t manage to win a single Golden Boot award as Mbappe got his hands on the award in both 2020-21 and 2021-22.

In fairness to Messi, he assisted a large bulk of the goals that Mbappe scored during those seasons as the Argentine wizard was happy to take on a more reserved role in Paris.

With both Messi and Neymar providing him the chances, Mbappe scored 57 league goals during the two years that the Argentine spent in Paris. For context, Messi scored 22 league goals during that same period.

Luis Suarez

Amazingly, Messi won the La Liga Golden Boot in each of his last five seasons with Barcelona. While he was still active in the league, the last player other than Messi to win the top scorer award was his fellow teammate, Suarez.

The Uruguayan talisman was on fire during 2015-16 as he scored 40 goals in La Liga alone that season. Talk about prolific.

“Messi has helped me a lot in my personal growth,” Suarez told reporters back in 2016.

“He has shown me his companionship a thousand times. He helped me when I was fighting for the Golden Boot as I was too. The other day, at Eibar, he gave me a goal.”

Cristiano Ronaldo

During Ronaldo’s nine-year stint with Real Madrid, he managed to snatch three La Liga Golden Boot awards from Messi.

The Portuguese scoring machine first won the La Liga Golden Boot in 2010-11. He scored 40 league goals, nine more than Messi managed that season.

CR7 next got his hands on the prize in 2013-14 as he won the Golden Boot with 31 goals, three more than his Barcelona counterpart that year.

He then won the award for a second consecutive time in 2014-15 as Ronaldo enjoyed his best-ever scoring season in La Liga with 48 goals to his name. However, Messi went on to have the final laugh that season as Barcelona won the treble which saw him win yet another Ballon d’Or.

Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo.

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Diego Forlan

Back in 2008-09, Messi scored over 20 league goals for the first time in his career, although that still wasn’t good enough to win the Golden Boot as Forlan was lurking around.

The legendary Uruguayan forward bagged 32 league goals that season and won the last Golden Boot of his career in the process.