Cristiano Ronaldo Beats Lionel Messi to Win La Liga's Pichichi Trophy

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo beat Barcelona's Lionel Messi to this season's Pichichi Trophy, which is given to the player who scored the most goals in La Liga, his club announced. 

Ronaldo finished the 2014-15 league campaign with a quite incredible haul of 48 goals, compared to Messi's 43, per WhoScored.com.

Going into Saturday's final round of games in La Liga—Barca having already wrapped up the title—Ronaldo was firmly in the driving seat for the award on 45 goals, compared to Messi's 41.

Real Madrid provided additional details from the historic feat:

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Against Getafe, Ronaldo reached the figure of 300 competitive appearances for Real Madrid. The Portuguese has found the net 314 times in this number of games, to boast a scoring rate that is unparalleled in the club's history.

Indeed, nobody else among the Whites' all-time top 20 marksmen has an average higher than one per game. The man who comes closest is [Ferenc] Puskas (0.93).

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Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick against Getafe means that he has set his best ever goals tally in all competitions in a single season. With 61, he surpasses his mark of 60 from 2011/12.

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It is the third time that Ronaldo has won the coveted Pichichi Trophy since he moved to Real from Manchester United in 2009.

However, each time he has been La Liga's top scorer, Real have failed to win the league title, per Marca.

When Ronaldo won his only Liga title to date in 2011-12, Messi took the Pichichi with a record-breaking 50 goals.

While the award may be some comfort to Ronaldo, as hinted by Zezo Cartoons (h/t Eurosport), the truth is that his club has underachieved this season, failing to win any one of La Liga, the Copa del Rey or the Champions League:

After a phenomenal start to the campaign, which included a 22-match winning streak in all competitions, Real tailed off at the start of the year, which allowed Barcelona to win the title.

While Ronaldo's contribution has been extraordinary once again, he will likely take little joy from what was a largely tricky season for his club.