It’s neck and neck between Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in the ESM Golden Shoe rankings. Both prolific forwards were on target again at the weekend to take their total for the season to 35. Last season, Ronaldo broke the record for the most goals in a season in Spain when he scored 40 goals, and with 9 games to play, there is every chance that both he and Messi will eclipse that mark during the current campaign.
Ronaldo scored twice in Madrid’s 5-1 victory over Real Sociedad – his first being his 100th league goal with the club, to become the fastest player to reach a century of goals in the Spanish league. Messi, meanwhile scored the opener in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory at Mallorca; that’s 35 league goals for the Argentinian and an incredible 55 in all competitions this season.
Elsewhere in the top ten, Germany’s two most prolific marksmen this season, Bayern Munich’s, Mario Gomez and Schalke’s, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, were both on target again to take their tallies to 23 and 22 respectively. In Italy, Zlatan Ibrahimovic maintained his good run of form when he scored both goals in Milan’s 2-1 win over Roma.
POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS
1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 35 x 2 = 70
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 35 x 2 = 70
3. Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 26 x 2 = 52
4. Burak Yilmaz (Trabzonspor) 31 x 1.5 = 46.5
5. Aleksandrs Cekulajevs (Trans Narva) 46 x 1 = 46
Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 23 x 2 = 46
7. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04) 22 x 2 = 44
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan) 22 x 2 = 44
9. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 20 x 2 = 40
10. Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow) 26 x 1.5 = 39
11. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 19 x 2 = 38
Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 19 x 2 = 38
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 19 x 2 = 38
14. Olivier Giroud (Montpellier) 18 x 2 = 36
Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 18 x 2 = 36
16. Bas Dost (Heerenveen) 23 x 1.5 = 34.5
17. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 17 x 2 = 34
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 17 x 2 = 34
19. Jérémy Perbet (Mons) 22 x 1.5 = 33
20. Demba Ba (Newcastle United) 16 x 2 = 32
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 16 x 2 = 32
Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 16 x 2 = 32
Lukas Podolski (Cologne) 16 x 2 = 32
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 16 x 2 = 32
25. Sanharib Malki (Roda Kerkrade) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
26. 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
Rodrigo Palacio (Genoa) 15 x 2 = 30
Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 15 x 2 = 30
32. John Guidetti (Feyenoord) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Artjoms Rudnevs (Lech Poznán) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
34. Papiss Demba Cissé (Freiburg/Newcastle United) 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
Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Blackburn Rovers) 14 x 2 = 28
39. Óscar Cardozo (Benfica) 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
Kevin Mirallas (Olympiakos) 18 x 1.5 = 27
**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.
