Cristiano Ronaldo will add new trophy to collection as Juventus star is named winner of inaugural Paolo Rossi award

CRISTIANO RONALDO has added yet more silverware to his trophy cabinet after becoming the first player to receive the Paolo Rossi award for Serie A’s top scorer.

The Portuguese forward scored 29 goals in 33 league appearances for Juventus last season, beating Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku, who came second with 24 goals.

AFP

Ronaldo is a five-time league top goalscorer award winner with a staggering 479 league goals in his career[/caption]

The award is Ronaldo’s fifth league top goalscorer award, having won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2007-08 and the LaLiga Pichichi Trophy on three occasions – in 2010-11, 2013-14 and 2014-15.

The 36-year-old also netted five goals for Portugal to win the top goalscorer award at Euro 2020, taking his international tally to 109 and making him the joint highest men’s international goalscorer of all-time.

With just one year left on his deal at Juve, there have been reports that Ronaldo could be on his way out of Turin this summer, with both Man United and PSG reportedly interested.

But this has recently been played down by Juve, with CR7’s agent Jorge Mendes and Juve chairman Andrea Agnelli due to hold talks over a potential new contract in the coming weeks.

The Paolo Rossi award takes its name from the Italy hero who scored six goals and won best player in the Azzurri’s 1982 World Cup win in Spain, including a hat-trick against Brazil.

The former Juventus striker died aged just 64 in December last year and the new Serie A top goalscorer award has been named in his honour in recognition of his contribution to Italian football.

SUN BINGO WIN A SHARE OF £250k (18+ T&Cs apply)

DREAM TEAM IS BACK! SIGN UP NOW FOR THE 21/22 SEASON WITH £100,000 PRIZE POT UP FOR GRABS

Getty

Paolo Rossi is a legend of Italian football and the new Serie A top goalscorer award has been named in his honour[/caption]

The announcement of the Paolo Rossi award was made on Tuesday by the Italian Players’ Association (AIC), which read: “it was impossible to make a better debut than this one.

“Since as declared in the 2020/21 championship, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 29 goals in the Juventu shirt, will be the first player to to be awarded the ‘Paolo Rossi’ trophy.

“[The award is] an initiative of the AIC board and with the consent of Federica Cappelletti, wife of the champion who died last December”.