A rare blank from Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo saw his lead at the head of the ESM Golden Shoe rankings reduced to two points as his close rival, Lionel Messi, scored another of his trademark wonder goals in Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Sevilla.
Ronaldo stays top having scored 32 goals this season, with Messi now just a goal behind. Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie, who enjoyed a week off, remains third with 26 goals.
Elsewhere in the top ten, there were goals for Bayern Munich’s Mario Gomez, Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and in Italy, both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Di Natale were on the scoresheet for Milan and Udinese respectively. The prolific Di Natale is in with a good chance of becoming Serie A’s leading scorer for the third successive season – a feat last achieved by Michel Platini between 1983-85.
POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 32 x 2 = 64
2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 31 x 2 = 62
3. Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 26 x 2 = 52
4. Aleksandrs Cekulajevs (Trans Narva) 46 x 1 = 46
5. Burak Yilmaz (Trabzonspor) 30 x 1.5 = 45
6. Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 22 x 2 = 44
7. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04) 20 x 2 = 40
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan) 20 x 2 = 40
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 20 x 2 = 40
10. Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 19 x 2 = 38
11. Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow) 25 x 1.5 = 37.5
12. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 18 x 2 = 36
13. Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 17 x 2 = 34
Olivier Giroud (Montpellier) 17 x 2 = 34
Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 17 x 2 = 34
16. Bas Dost (Heerenveen) 22 x 1.5 = 33
17. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 16 x 2 = 32
Demba Ba (Newcastle United) 16 x 2 = 32
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 16 x 2 = 32
Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 16 x 2 = 32
Lukas Podolski (Cologne) 16 x 2 = 32
22. Jérémy Perbet (Mons) 21 x 1.5 = 31,5
23. Gérman Gustavo Denis (Atalanta) 15 x 2 = 30
Luuk de Jong (FC Twente) 20 x 1.5 = 30
David Lafata (FK Jablonec) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Zenit St.Petersburg) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Sanharib Malki (Roda JC Kerkrade) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 15 x 2 = 30
29. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 14 x 2 = 28
Martin Harnik (Stuttgart) 14 x 2 = 28
Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao) 14 x 2 = 28
Diego Milito (Internazionale) 14 x 2 = 28
Rodrigo Palacio (Genoa) 14 x 2 = 28
Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 14 x 2 = 28
35. Óscar Cardozo (Benfica) 18 x 1.5 = 27
John Guidetti (Feyenoord) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Rodrigo José ‘Lima’ dos Santos (Braga) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Dries Mertens (PSV Eindhoven) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Artjoms Rudnevs (Lech Poznán) 18 x 1.5 = 27
40. Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Michu’ Miguel Pérez Cuesta (Rayo Vallecano) 13 x 2 = 26
Anderson Luiz de Carvalho ‘Nenê‘ (Paris Saint-Germain) 13 x 2 = 26
Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Blackburn Rovers) 13 x 2 = 26
**Rules
Only the leading five countries – Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England – in the UEFA rankings have two as their multiplier. This is to emphasise the difference in (international) performance level between clubs from those countries and those of other nations.A player cannot play first in a summer league (e.g. Norway) and then in a winter league (e.g. Spain) and combine the points totals for each season.
