European Golden Shoe: Don't be too quick to rule Ronaldo out!
(Baonghean.vn) - With a poker (four goals) against Girona in the 29th round of La Liga, the Portuguese star is making significant strides in the race for the European Golden Boot award in the 2017/2018 season.
Just a few weeks ago, when discussing the contenders for the European Golden Boot, hardly anyone thought of or mentioned the Real Madrid striker. Simply put, the gap in goals scored by Ronaldo compared to players like Harry Kane, Salah, Cavani, Messi… was too large. Catching up with or surpassing these rivals was almost impossible for a star who was about to turn 33.
The main reason why fans have inadvertently or intentionally overlooked Ronaldo's name in the race for the European Golden Boot is not just because of his lower goal tally compared to his rivals. For a prolific striker like CR7, scoring 3-4 goals per game is perfectly normal.
What made people forget about him was his goal-scoring performance. By the end of the first half of the La Liga season, Ronaldo had only scored a meager 4 goals, which is only a quarter of Messi's tally (16 goals).
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| Messi was the winner of the European Golden Shoe for the 2016/2017 season. Photo: Internet |
That's why Marca (a newspaper close to Real Madrid) didn't hesitate to say: "The race for the Pichichi (La Liga top scorer) with Ronaldo is over, no matter how impressive his second half of the season was."
Marca's assessment met with no opposition from football fans, except for Ronaldo. Without responding, the Portuguese star chose to prove himself by scoring goals against his opponents.
Prior to matchday 30 of La Liga, Ronaldo had scored a total of 22 goals. The gap between him and his rival Messi is now only 3 goals (Messi has 25 goals).
Thus, from the beginning of 2018 until now, the Real Madrid number 7 player has scored 18 goals in La Liga alone. In the last 4 La Liga matches (excluding the game against Espanyol because he did not play), CR7 scored 10 goals for the Royal team.
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| Ronaldo celebrates his goal against Girona in La Liga's 29th round. Photo: Internet |
Currently, the 1985-born star is temporarily ranked 8th in the race for the European Golden Boot in the 2017/2018 season. With a gap of just 6 goals behind Liverpool's Salah – who is leading (Salah has 28 goals) – Ronaldo's chances of winning the European Golden Boot are much clearer.
With nine rounds remaining in La Liga and his current high scoring rate, the hopes for CR7 are considerable.
The Pichichi race has heated up again, making the race for the European Golden Boot even more exciting. Salah, and to some extent Messi, are currently in the lead, but now no one dares to rule out Ronaldo anymore.