Kylian Mbappe has claimed the European Golden Shoe for the first time after netting two goals during Real Madrid’s 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday.
The French forward recorded 31 goals in his first league season in Spain, which also earned him the title of top scorer in La Liga.
A brace in Real’s concluding match of the season guaranteed Mbappe the leading position in the standings, surpassing Sporting’s Victor Gyokeres (39 goals) and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (29 goals).
Despite Gyokeres outscoring Mbappe by eight goals in the league, he came in second place due to a points system that weights the importance of goals in various leagues.
Goals achieved by players in Europe’s leading five leagues—Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 are valued at two points.
Conversely, goals from leagues ranked between sixth and 22nd in UEFA’s coefficient, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, are assigned 1.5 points.
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Mohamed Salah required a hat-trick in Liverpool’s last Premier League match against Crystal Palace on Sunday to tie with Mbappe.
The Egyptian managed only one goal in a 1-1 draw.
Mbappe becomes just the third player from Real Madrid to earn this accolade, following in the footsteps of Hugo Sanchez (1989-90) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2010-11, 2013-14, and 2014-15).
Gyokeres, who has been rumored to join Arsenal this summer had no opportunity to challenge Mbappe as Sporting’s league season concluded the week before.
After scoring in his team’s 3-1 defeat against Lisbon rivals Benfica in the Portuguese Cup final on Sunday, the Swedish forward finished the season with a remarkable total of 53 goals in 51 matches across all competitions.
The top five in the standings are as follows, Mbappe (62 points), Gyokeres (58.5), Salah (58), Robert Lewandowski (54), and Harry Kane (52).