FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi profusely thanked his teammates and the Barcelona board as he was presented with his second career Golden Shoe—the trophy for Europe’stop scorer—on Monday. Messi scored a record 50 goals in Spain’s La Liga over the course of the 2011-2012 season.
“Before anything else I want to thank everyone who is here withme,” the Argentine said. “A lot of people have come. Obviously this is a group award. This more than any other, even if it is a prize for scoring goals. Without my teammates I would not have scoredall the goals I managed.”
When asked to choose his favorite goal from last season, Messi said he could not single out one. “I do not usually pick out goals,” he said. “I prefer to recallthe goals in finals for the importance they had. I do not fight for any individual prize, we fight for trophies. My goal is to win again La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. These arethe objectives at the level of the team.”
Separately, FIFA on Monday released the short-list of candidates for its 2012 Ballon d’Or award (formerly known as the World Player of theYear award). While Messi, teammate Andres Iniesta and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo are the favorites to win, the full list of 23 nominees (as well as 10coaches for the Coach of the Year prize) can be seen here.