Lionel Messi was awarded the Golden Shoe on Friday for his attacking exploits during the 2016-17 season, the Barcelona star topping the European goal-scoring charts with 37 in the previous campaign.
Messi pipped Sporting CP striker Bas Dost (33 goals), Borussia Dortmund hit man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (30), Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez (28), and Bayern Munich ace Robert Lewandowski (29) for the prize. This is his fourth Golden Shoe, having previously won the award for the 2009-10, 2011-12, and 2012-13 seasons. He succeeds Suarez for this year’s nod.
From Golden Shoe winner to Golden Shoe winner@LuisSuarez9 Leo #Messi #MessiIsGold pic.twitter.com/9waM2LoJIU
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 24, 2017
“I have kept growing off the field and on it. I am improving and adding things to my game, every day I enjoy being a footballer more,” Messi said, per the club’s official Twitter account.
The diminutive Argentine was unable to top his personal best with those 37 goals – Messi previously won the prize with 46 tallies in 2012-13 and 50 in 2011-12, the current record in this category.
Messi and archrival Cristiano Ronaldo now have four Golden Shoe awards each, with the latter’s 48 goals in 2014-15 accounting for his own best-ever tally, and his latest victory.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Just as the Cowboys welcomed All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith back from a two-game absence because of a groin strain, they lost All-Pro right guard Zack Martin to a concussion in the second quarter of Thursday’s 28-6 loss to the Chargers.
Martin was staggered on a run by Rod Smith but remained in the game for the next four plays. During Los Angeles’ next drive, he underwent cognitive tests and was replaced by Joe Looney.
Martin entered Thursday having played 661 of a possible 673 snaps on the season. He has not missed a game in his career.
Smith missed the losses to the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles because of a groin strain suffered late in the Nov. 5 win against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys used Chaz Green and Byron Bell in his absence. Dak Prescott has been sacked 12 times, and the offense has scored one touchdown in the two-game stretch.
Smith was listed as questionable entering the game after going through three limited practices, which never were at more than walkthrough pace. Smith went through an involved pregame warm-up prior to the Eagles’ loss on Sunday, but the plan all along was to have him available to play against the Chargers.
In the first eight games of the season with Smith, Prescott was not sacked more than two times in a game.
Jose Mourinho came to Daley Blind’s defence after the Manchester United defender blamed himself for FC Basel’s late winner Wednesday.
Michael Lang was the hero for the Swiss side when he outpaced Blind to get on the end of a low cross and fired the ball in from close range in the 89th minute of the Champions League group stage encounter.
Blind conceded that he was at fault, but his manager was quick to defend the Dutch defender, and instead highlighted the team’s shortcomings during a dominant first half in which United squandered plenty of opportunities to find the back of the net.
“The only thing I can get from the goal is the low cross, the right-back coming in front of Daley,” Mourinho told reporters, according to Rob Dawson of ESPN FC.
“I know that in the flash interview Daley was blaming himself. It’s totally unfair.
“I refuse that situation because we are a team, and in the first half we should be winning five or 6-0 and that was not Daley’s fault for sure.”
The 1-0 loss was United’s first of the competition this term and denied Mourinho’s men of clinching a spot in the knockout rounds.
United will next look to secure first place in the group on the final matchday of the group phase against CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford on Dec. 5.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson thinks all the ingredients are in place for Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to be next year’s version of Carson Wentz.
“Oh, for sure, for sure,” Pederson said on a Wednesday conference call. “We knew last year with Carson as a rookie that there were going to be growing pains and we were going to take some lumps. And also, listen, we just weren’t very good as a football team last year, too, and didn’t have the surrounding pieces around Carson. You kind of see in Mitch, you see the arm talent, you see the athleticism, the strength. You see good decisions, the accuracy. You see things that flash on tape that you go, ‘OK, that’s exactly the way Carson was a year ago.'”
Mitchell Trubisky is considered a raw prospect after starting only 13 career games at North Carolina. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Trubisky mirroring Wentz’s growth from Year 1 to Year 2 would be the best-case scenario for the Bears. Wentz, the second overall pick of the 2016 NFL draft, is a legitimate MVP candidate with 2,430 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and five interceptions through 10 games.
As a rookie, Wentz, who played four years in college in a pro-style offense at North Dakota State, passed for 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 16 starts.
Trubisky is considered a raw prospect after starting only 13 career games at North Carolina. Undeterred by Trubisky’s lack of experience, the Bears made him the No. 2 pick in last April’s draft and named him their starting quarterback in Week 5.
The Bears have proceeded cautiously with Trubisky, who has thrown for 988 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions and rushed for 163 yards since taking over for Mike Glennon.
The Eagles (9-1) host the Bears (3-7) on Sunday.
“You know, I don’t know [Trubisky] personally,” Pederson said. “I’m assuming he studies the game extremely well and prepares well. And the coaches prepare him well and probably, like we did with Carson, try to keep it as simple as possible with the game plan and just let him go play and use his athleticism at times to help out.
“That’s always a positive when you have an athletic quarterback that you can use outside of the pocket, a big, physical guy like that, and you’re seeing the flashes like we saw in Carson. You continue to spend the time with him. You continue to develop. He gets a full offseason coming up, where like Carson you get time away but at the same time you can focus in on your offense and your skill set, and you’ll see big strides from Year 1 to Year 2 in this kid.”
