The Oscars of the League

As happens every season, the footballing world decks itself out in its finery for the awards of the Marca Hyundai trophies for La Liga. It is now 60 years since the dailies MARCA and Arriba presented the very first Pichichi trophy for the top goalscorer in the league championship.

The Pichichi award for 2011-2012 went to Leo Messi. If the whole world was astounded in 2010-2011 by the 41 goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo to win the award, then one year on Messi went 9 up, scoring an astronomical 50.

Such an impressive tally looked like a record which would not be beaten for a long time to come, but wait... the Barcelona forward's goal hunger is insatiable and he has alreadyput the ball into the back of the net 39 times so far this season.

Cristiano Ronaldo won the Trofeo Di Stéfano for best player of the season. This is a prize jointly voted for by our readers and by a panel of judges headed by Di Stéfano himself, and which also features a star line-up of Cruyff, Zidane, Hierro, Luis Suárez and Capello, among others. Cristiano Ronaldo beat Messi by five votes in the final count.

Best goalkeeper went to Barcelona’s Víctor Valdés, carrying off the Trofeo Zamora for letting in only 28 goals in 35 games.

José Mourinho won the Miguel Muñoz trophy for the second season in a row, thus levelling with Pep Guardiola, who had been the only manager to win the trophy more than once since it started in 2005-06.

Valencia forward Roberto Soldado will collect the Zarra trophy for highest scorer in the Spain team, scoring 18 goals for the national squad during the season.