World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

44 RISEOFRONALDO

T

henumbersdonotlie.In

the 2011 - 12 season,Lionel

Messiscored 73 goalsfor

Barcelona: 50 inthe Spanish

league,sixinthe CopadelRey and

SuperCup,anda record 1 7 in European

andinternationalclubcompetitions.

Hissingle-seasontotalsurpassed

GerdMuller’spreviousEuropeanclub

campaignrecord of 67 forBayern

Munichin 19 72- 7 3.

Messibegan theseasonwith goals

andaccolades:hewon theinaugural

BestPlayerinEuropeonthe eveof

theEuropeanSuper CupagainstPorto,

wherehe scoredinBarcelona’s 2-0

victory.WorldSoccer’sWorldPlayerand

theFIFABallond’Orawards followed.

TheCopadelRey provedconsolation

forBarcaafter missingoutonLaLiga

andChampionsLeagueglory.Inevitably,

Messichippedinwitha goalinthe 3-0

winoverAthleticBilbaointhe final.

Ofthosegoals, 50 werescoredinthe

league,earningMessithe ESMGolden

Shoeforthesecondtime.Butthiswas

notjustanothervictoryforMessi;his

half-century of leaguegoalswas the

largest amassedbythe winnerinthe

historyoftheGoldenShoe,which was

first presentedtoEusebioin 19 68.

RONALDOECLIPSED

Messieclipsedlastyear’sESMGolden

ShoewinnerCristianoRonaldo, whose

46 goalswouldhavewon theaward

onany previousoccasion.

ArsenalandNetherlands striker

RobinvanPersie,whowasacclaimed

asthe best playerin thePremier

Leaguebyboth playersandfootball

writers,finishedadistantthirdhaving

scored 30 leaguegoals.

Thegap betweenVan Persieand

Messiservesonlytoillustrate the

immensityofthe Argentinian’s

ground-breaking season.

GavinHamiltoncelebrates

theArgentinianwizard’s

ground-breakingseason

forBarcelona

Messi’s prizes

Offthebackoftheir

scintillating2011-12

seasons,LionelMessi

andCristianoRonaldo

gracedthecoverof

WorldSoccer’s June

2012 issue.The

featurewasdubbed

“therivalry that

defineda record-

breakingseason”