Real Madrid was never able to overtake Barcelona in the race for Spain's La Liga title, but Cristiano Ronaldo won his duel with Lionel Messi for the Pichichi, Spain's famed scoring award, in record fashion.

Ronaldo scored twice in Real Madrid's 8-1 victory over Almeria on the final day of the season to give him 40 goals and break the record for goals he shared with Athletic Bilbao's Telmo Zarra and Real Madrid's Hugo Sanchez. Messi finished with 31 goals. Real Madrid scored 102 goals, seven more than Barcelona.

"We are thrilled to finish the season on 102 goals," said Ronaldo, who also won the Golden Shoe as Europe's top scorer. "[Real coach] Jose Mourinho wanted a prolific end to the campaign so we can start next season on the right track. We have done just that. Repeating these figures will be very difficult but nothing is impossible and I'm going to continue to work hard to achieve it."