‘Messi, Papu Gomez or Lautaro Martinez’ – Who is leading the race for Copa America’s Golden Boot?

The 2021 edition of the Copa America is underway, and Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia are the four semi-finalists vying for the top prize.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi has been the standout performer in the competition with four goals and has also provided as many assists. Interestingly, it must be mentioned that Messi has never won the Golden Boot award at Copa America.

Messi needs four more goals to equal Norberto Mendez (Argentina) and Zizinho (Brazil)’s tally of 17 goals each, who are the all-time top scorers at Copa America.

He started the 2021 edition of the tournament in style with a gem of a free-kick against Chile before adding a couple against Bolivia in their last group game. In the quarterfinal against Ecuador, Messi was in sublime form as he provided two assists and scored at the death from a free-kick.

Which players in the race for the Copa America Golden Boot?

Messi is the only player with four goals to his name. Lautaro Martinez netted his third goal of the tournament against Colombia to climb up to the second position in the topscorers’ list. There are now 11 players who have scored twice in this competition however, only four are still in contention with their teams active in the tournament.

The other players who have scored two goals are: Andre Carillo (Peru), Gianluca Lapadula (Peru), Erwin Saavedra (Bolivia), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Ángel Romero (Paraguay), Ayrton Preciado (Ecuador) and Eduardo Vargas (Chile), Luis Diaz (Colombia).