5 greatest attackers never to have won the European Golden Boot
The European Golden Boot (also called the European Golden Shoe) is awarded to the top goalscorer in a European top-flight season.
Since the 1996-97 season, a co-efficient system has been used to account for the difference in competition in various leagues. That essentially means the Golden Boot winner need not be the most prolific scorer across all European leagues in a season.
First introduced by L'Equipe, the Golden Boot award is now awarded by the European Sports Media. Since 2001-02 (Mario Jardel for Sporting Lisbon), the award has been won by players plying their trade in Europe's top five leagues.
While a lot of world-class players have won the prestigious award, a few others have failed to win it. On that note, here's a look at the top five attackers who never won the European Golden Boot award:
#5 Miroslav Klose
Miroslav Klose is the record goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history, with 16 goals in four different editions of the competition. The 2014 FIFA World Cup winner enjoyed a less prolific club career, though, scoring 121 Bundesliga goals in over 300 appearances in the competition.
Klose won his only Torjegarkanone award in 2005-06, scoring 25 goals. However, that wasn't enough to land him the European Golden Boot award, as the 43-year-old finished six goals shy of winner Luca Toni.
All of Miroslav #Klose's record 16 #WorldCup goals. Which was your favourite? #ThankYouMiro http://t.co/OyVnzMscfe
Klose wouldn't come close to winning the Golden Boot award again. He also spent five seasons in Serie A, where his most prolific campaign (2012-13) saw him score 15 goals.
#4 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still going strong at the ripe old age of 40. Ibrahimovic has won league titles in four different countries and has scored goals galore for every team he has played for.
The AC Milan striker recently created history, becoming the oldest player to score a Serie A brace. However, Ibrahimovic's effort went in vain as Milan slumped to their first league reverse of the season in a seven-goal thriller against Fiorentina.
40 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become the oldest player ever to have scored 2+ goals in a Serie A game and the first 40-year-old player to have scored 2+ goals in a match in the big-5 European leagues in the 2000s (40 years, 48 days). Infinity.
#FiorentinaMilan https://t.co/vbUY0I6FMo
Ibrahimovic netted 38 Ligue 1 goals for PSG in the 2015-16 season, a club for which he scored over 100 goals in the competition.
However, he didn't come close to winning that season's Golden Boot award, as Luis Suarez aggregated 80 points by scoring 40 league goals for Barcelona. Ibrahimovic's Golden Boot chances were also hindered, as Ligue 1 had a coefficient of 1.5 back then.
The Swedish striker has scored most of his league goals (152) in Serie A. Ibrahimovic has also plied his trade in the Eredivisie, Premier League and La Liga.