Lionel Messi extends his Golden Boot lead over Cristiano Ronaldo with a second MLS title

Lionel Messi added another trophy to his collection of scoring titles. The Inter Miami captain won the 2026 MLS Golden Boot, a second straight for him in the league, and the award has also pushed him further ahead of his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the count of Golden Boots they have won throughout their careers.

Messi finished the regular season with 26 goals in 31 appearances, four more than Dallas forward Petar Musa, while Nashville’s Sam Surridge was third with 21. After topping the scoring charts two years in a row, the Argentine became the first player in MLS history to win the scoring title in consecutive seasons.

The new trophy gives him 10 Golden Boots in his career, counting his domestic league titles in Europe and MLS, against 7 for Ronaldo. The gap grew to three after the Portuguese forward, who had won the Saudi Pro League scoring title in 2023-24 and 2024-25, missed out on a third straight in 2025-26.

Eight of Messi’s ten came in LaLiga with Barcelona, where he was the top scorer in 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. It is worth mentioning that six of them, from 2009-10 through 2018-19, were also European Golden Shoes, which are awarded to the top scorer across Europe’s main leagues.

The other two have come in the United States, with Inter Miami, after he left elite European competition. The first award arrived in 2025, when he scored 29 goals at the age of 38, and the second this season, which allowed him to make history in MLS. In between, his 2024 campaign was limited by injuries, as he scored 20 goals in 19 games and finished in second place, three goals behind Christian Benteke.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s seven Golden Boots across four leagues

Despite having fewer Golden Boots than Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo became the top scorer in four different leagues. The first came in the Premier League in 2007-08 with Manchester United, a title that was also a European Golden Shoe.

He then added three Pichichis with Real Madrid, in 2010-11, 2013-14 and 2014-15, and all three were also European Golden Shoes, which brings his total in that category to four. The last of those seasons was his most prolific: he scored 48 league goals, a career best, the same year Messi’s Barcelona won the treble.

Before leaving Europe, he also made his mark in Italy. He won the Serie A scoring title in 2020-21 with Juventus, scoring 29 goals, although in a year when Robert Lewandowski’s 41 in the Bundesliga took the European Golden Shoe.

Ronaldo then moved to Saudi Arabia and won the Saudi Pro League’s Golden Boot in his first two full seasons with Al Nassr, scoring 35 goals in 2023-24, a league record, and 25 in 2024-25.

A third straight was within reach in 2025-26, but he finished third with 28 goals, behind Al Qadsiah’s Julian Quiñones, who won it with 33, and Al Ahli’s Ivan Toney, who scored 32.

That scoring ability has also kept both players in a race that no one else in football is running: the chase for 1,000 career goals. Ronaldo currently leads with 985, ahead of Messi’s 937, and with both still active and still finding the net, the question is no longer whether they will keep adding to their totals, but which of them will get there first.