Messi received his fifth Golden Boot

[KEPY™]

Barcelona striker Leo Messi, who received the Golden Boot on Tuesday that credits him as the top scorer of the European leagues in the 2017-18 season, thanked the work of his teammates, which he considers essential to achieve so many individual awards.

"I did not expect all this when I started. My dream was obviously to be professional, but I never imagined so much. It is the result of work, effort and especially of colleagues. I am in the best team in the world, I have the best in the world in their positions and that makes everything easier and I can get these awards, "he said.

Messi received his fifth Golden Boot at an event held this afternoon at the Old Damm Factory in Barcelona and attended by a wide representation of the club azulgrana, starting with its president, Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Also present were the director of sports and institutional relations, Guillermo Amor; the general director of football, Pep Segura; the technical secretary of the first team, Eric Abidal; and the captains of the first squad Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto.

The Argentine star, who already won the award in the 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2016-17 campaigns, received the trophy after achieving 34 goals in LaLiga Santander. The Egyptian of the Mohamed Salah (32) and the Englishman of the Tottenham Harry Kane (30) were the two players who were immediately behind him.

Five children, patients of the Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu, where the Leo Messilevantará Foundation Pediatric Cancer Center of Barcelona, were responsible for bringing the Barca player the five Golden Boots with which he posed smiling, alone, before starting his parliament, and later, accompanied by the little ones.

"I feel very good in the psychic and in the physical. Years go by and one tries to take care of himself, as I did during my entire career. And now much more, because the parties are increasingly demanding and we do not have much time to rest, "he said when asked about his great form moment.

With his fifth Golden Boot, Messi undoes the tie he maintained until last season with the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and becomes the player who has achieved this award the most, awarded by the European Sports Media (ESM).

They are part of this association of sports media Marca, La Gazzetta dello Sport, A Bola, Fanatik, Elf Voetball, Kicker, Sport Express, Voetbal Sport, Tips Bladet, Telesport, Frankfurter Allgemeine, World Soccer, So Foot, Goal News and Nemzeti Sport .

With his last hat-trick against Levante, the Barça '10' already has 14 goals in LaLiga, which makes him, for the moment, the top scorer in the main European leagues, which puts him again in the lead to win his sixth Golden Boot.

In addition, with his 14 goals and 10 assists, he is also the player who has participated in the most goals in the main leagues and the only one who has reached the double digits both in goals and assists.

In the collective aspect, for Leo Messi the next challenge is to conquer again the Champions League, which happens, first, because his team eliminates Lyon's Olimpique in the round of 16.

In this sense, the rosarino striker acknowledged that "Lyon was not, a priori, one of the strongest teams that could play in the draw", but he was "in a very difficult group, where I try to face you at Manchester City, which is one of the best in Europe "and that is a fact to be taken into account.

"From here to February, there are many games, many things can happen and we do not know how we are going to be, but it will be a complicated duel," said Messi, who recalled that there are "several French players on the team who know that League and also Malcolm who played there "and that will be an advantage to prepare the tie.