Barcelona star Lionel Messi has retained the European Golden Shoe as the top scorer across all leagues in Europe.

A little over a month ago, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah was the firm favourite to outscore all of his rivals but the Liverpool man scored just four Premier League goals after the end of March, and Messi has answered that with eight in La Liga.

With 34 goals in his domestic league, Messi finished ahead of Salah by two. Tottenham's Harry Kane is third and finished on 30 goals.

Lazio's Ciro Immobile, Inter Milan's Mauro Icardi and Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich were joint fourth with 29 goals.

The Golden Shoe table is ranked on points rather than goals, with goals scored in Europe's top five leagues worth two points. Jonas of Benfica has scored 34 league goals this term, but strikes in the Portuguese league are only worth 1.5 points, which places him ninth in the standings.

Messi had already won the award four times. Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo has won it four times -- the first coming with Manchester United in 2007-08.

Since 2008, La Liga has now provided 12 of the 13 winners, with Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan the other player from Spain to top the chart in 2008-09.

This season, Ronaldo finished eighth with 26 goals. Barcelona's Luis Suarez who rounds out the top 10 with 25.

The top 10:

1. Lionel Messi, Barcelona, 68 points (34 goals)
2. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, 64 points (32)
3. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur, 60 (30)
4. Ciro Immobile, Lazio, 58 (29)
4. Mauro Icardi, Inter Milan, 58 (29)
4. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich, 58 (29)
7. Edinson Cavani, Paris Saint-Germain, 56 (28)
8. Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, 52 (26)
9. Jonas, Benfica, 51 (34)
10. Luis Suarez, Barcelona, 50 (25)

Source: ESPN

BDST: 1217 HRS, MAY 21, 2018
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