Comparing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Golden Boots: La Liga, MLS, Saudi…
Lionel Messi claimed yet another Golden Boot after ending the regular 2025 MLS campaign with 29 goals – but how does his Golden Boot haul stack up against his era-defining rival Cristiano Ronaldo?
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has won his first Golden Boot since leaving Barcelona. Only three players in MLS history – Carlos Vela (34), Josef Martínez (31) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (30) – have scored more goals in an MLS regular season.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, has continued to win Golden Boots since leaving the European game behind in 2023.
Here’s how Messi and Ronaldo compare when it comes to career Golden Boots won.
Head To Head In La Liga – 2009 to 2018
Messi and Ronaldo spent nine career-defining seasons as direct competitors for Real Madrid and Barcelona between the years of 2009 and 2018.
It was Messi’s Barcelona who tended to dominate domestically during that period, winning six league titles to Real Madrid’s two (Atletico Madrid briefly broke up their duopoly) – and he also won more Golden Boots.
The Argentinian won his first career Golden Boot for a league campaign during Ronaldo’s debut season with Los Blancos. That was the year his numbers went truly stratospheric, his 34 goals seven ahead of closest challenger Gonzalo Higuain. Ronaldo finished third in the standings that year on 26 goals.
Ronaldo would go on to win three Pichichi (La Liga’s Golden Boot), though, including a career-best 48 league goals when Messi’s Barcelona won the treble in 2014-15.
The only player to break up Messi and Ronaldo’s Pichichi dominance was Luis Suarez, who was Barcelona’s top scorer ahead of Messi with 40 La Liga goals in 2015-16.
Lionel Messi – 5⭐ (2009−10, 2011–12, 2012−13, 2016–17, 2017−18)
Cristiano Ronaldo – 3 (2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15)
Total Golden Boots in Europe
Messi went on to add another three Golden Boots following his old rival’s departure in 2018, inevitably dominating Spanish football’s goalscoring charts with the absence of a worthy competitor. He’d made it four in a row before he left for PSG in the summer of 2021.
Unlike Messi, Ronaldo can boast the distinction of winning the Golden Boot in every league he’s played in (bar Portugal when he was only a fringe player as a teenager).
Ronaldo won the Premier League’s Golden Boot in 2007-08 and added the Capocannoniere award for Serie A’s top scorer in 2020-21. But he missed out on the award to Fabio Quagliarella and Ciro Immobile in his first and third seasons in Italy, respectively.
Lionel Messi – 8⭐ (2009−10, 2011–12, 2012−13, 2016–17, 2017−18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21)
Cristiano Ronaldo – 5 (2007-08, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2020-21)
European Golden Shoes
Six of Messi’s eight Golden Boots won in La Liga also resulted in him winning the European Golden Shoe for the most goals scored across Europe’s major leagues.
The exceptions were at the latter end of his time in Catalonia. In 2019-20 he was outscored by Immobile and in 2020-21 he missed out to Robert Lewandowski, who broke the Bundesliga single-season record with 41 goals.
Ronaldo won the European Golden Shoe in four of his five Golden Boot wins – in the Premier League in 2007-08 alongside the three he won in La Liga.
The Portugal icon also finished well behind Lewandowski in 2020-21, while his 29 goals in Serie A were one behind Messi’s tally in Spain that year.
Lionel Messi – 6⭐ (2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19)
Cristiano Ronaldo – 4 (2007–08, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15)
Golden Boots since leaving Europe
Messi only made six MLS appearances in his first half-season following his arrival in 2023.
He would have been in the running in his first full season, where he notched 20 goals in just 19 games, but injuries and reduced gametime saw him end up three goals behind Christian Benteke.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner played more in 2025, maintaining his better-than-goal-a-game average, to claim his first MLS Golden Boot at the age of 38.
Ronaldo scored 14 goals in 16 Saudi Pro League appearances in his debut half-season at Al-Nassr, but even he couldn’t close the gap after his competitors had such a sizeable headstart.
The veteran has won the Golden Boot in both of his full two campaigns out in Saudi Arabia, though, scoring 35 goals in 2023-24 and 25 goals in 2024-25.
Lionel Messi – MLS – 1 (2025)
Cristiano Ronaldo – Saudi Pro League – 2⭐ (2023–24, 2024–25)
Overall Golden Boots Compared
Messi was already ahead of Ronaldo for total career Golden Boots, but his first as an MLS player has seen him inch back to two ahead of his old rival.
We dare say they’ll be adding more to their respective tallies in 2026. Watch this space.
Lionel Messi – 9⭐ (8 La Liga, 1 MLS – including 6 European Golden Shoes)
Cristiano Ronaldo – 7 (1 Premier League, 3 La Liga, 1 Serie A, 2 Saudi Pro League – including 4 European Golden Shoes)
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