Despite winning the top scorer title for the third time

Laba Kodjo: My joy at the golden shoe is imperfect

Lapa Kodjo clinched the league's top scorer title against Mabkhout by one goal. From the source

Al Ain striker, Togolese international Laba Kodjo said that his joy is lacking despite winning the Golden Boot award for the third time with Al Zaeem as the top scorer of the ADNOC Professional Football League, noting that he had hoped that the 28 goals he scored during the 26 matches would help help Al Zaeem retain the title he achieved last season.

Kodjo described during his speech to «Emirates Today» winning the title of scorer and occupying his team for second place as a very difficult matter, and said: «It is difficult to win an individual title and do not get with the team a collective title, certainly we wanted to achieve the league title, but at the same time we deserved to get second place, I thank God for what we have achieved and I also thank my colleagues for helping me win the title of top scorer».

The goals scored by Laba Kodjo since his arrival in the UAE helped to turn the 'leader' into a striking offensive force on all fronts, and the player was able to be the best successor to the best predecessor and follow the path of Ghanaian legend Asamoah Gyan, as he reached his 86th goal in fifth place on the list of scorers in the history of the Professional League, a list led by Al Jazira striker Ali Mabkhout with 208 goals.

But at the club level, the Togolese striker was able to finish the current season in third place in the history of Al Ain's top scorer in the league championship, equal to the former Al Ain star Majid Al Owais (current board member), and next season he needs to score only nine goals to equal Asamoah Gyan, who has 95 goals, but the journey will be long for him to equalize the historical scorer, the legendary Ahmed Abdullah, a member of the current technical staff of the team, who scored 117 goals.

Laba Kodjo revealed that he played the match Al-Bataeh despite suffering with injury, and said: «It is true that I stopped interfering in the play after scoring two goals, I have been suffering from injury for more than one match, but in the meeting with Al-Bataeh I had to sacrifice and fight the meeting cautiously, and I thank God that I succeeded in scoring two goals and resolving things early».

The Al Ain striker stressed their great desire to end the current season by winning the ADIB Cup, and concluded: "Now we have to focus on the next two semi-final matches against Al Nasr team, we will strive with everything we can to reach the final, we want to achieve the title of this competition."

Al Ain Striker:

• "It's hard to win an individual title and not get a team title with the team."