A hat-trick in his side’s 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid, took Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo tally for the season up to 40, and enabled him to regain the lead in the ESM Golden Shoe rankings.
To put that figure into perspective, Ronaldo has now equalled the record he set last season for the most goals scored in a league campaign in Spain. All that with six matches remaining. Somewhat improbably, the Portuguese is not even guaranteed to win this season’s Golden Shoe, as hot on his heels is Lionel Messi, who’s solitary strike in Barcelona’s 4-0 win over Getafe took his total for the season to 39.
Elsewhere in the upper echelons, Robin van Persie ended his four-match drought by scoring the opener in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Wolves. That’s 27 for the season for the Dutch striker. A new entrant in the top ten is Atletico Madrid’s Colombian forward who was on target against neighbours Real to take his total for the season to 21.
POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 40 x 2 = 80
2. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 39 x 2 = 76
3. Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 27 x 2 = 52
4. Mario Gomez (Bayern München) 25 x 2 = 50
5. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04) 24 x 2 = 48
Burak Yilmaz (Trabzonspor) 32 x 1.5 = 48
7. Aleksandrs Cekulajevs (JK Trans Narva) 46 x 1 = 46
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan) 23 x 2 = 46
9. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 21 x 2 = 42
Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 21 x 2 = 42
10. Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow) 27 x 1.5 = 40.5
11. Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 20 x 2 = 40
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 20 x 2 = 40
Diego Milito (Internazionale) 20 x 2 = 40
14. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 19 x 2 = 38
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 19 x 2 = 38
Olivier Giroud (Montpellier) 19 x 2 = 38
Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 19 x 2 = 38
16. Bas Dost (Heerenveen) 25 x 1.5 = 37.5
17. Papiss Demba Cissé (Freiburg/Newcastle United) 18 x 2 = 36
20. David Lafata (Jablonec) 23 x 1.5 = 34.5
21. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 17 x 2 = 34
Rodrigo Palacio (Genoa) 17 x 2 = 34
Lukas Podolski (Cologne) 17 x 2 = 34
25. Jérémy Perbet (Mons) 22 x 1.5 = 33
26. Demba Ba (Newcastle United) 16 x 2 = 32
Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 16 x 2 = 32
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 16 x 2 = 32
Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Blackburn Rovers) 16 x 2 = 32
29. Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Zenit St.Petersburg) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
Sanharib Malki (Roda Kerkrade) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
Luuk de Jong (FC Twente) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
31. Clint Dempsey (Fulham) 15 x 2 = 30
Gérman Gustavo Denis (Atalanta) 15 x 2 = 30
Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao) 15 x 2 = 30
Miguel Pérez Cuesta ‘Michu’ (Rayo Vallecano) 15 x 2 = 30
Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 15 x 2 = 30
Artjoms Rudnevs (Lech Poznán) 20 x 1.5 = 30
38. Nikica Jelavic (Glasgow Rangers/Everton) 14 x 1.5 + 4 x 2 = 29
39. Alexander Frei (FC Basel) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
John Guidetti (Feyenoord) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Rodrigo José ‘Lima’ dos Santos (Sporting Braga) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Kevin Mirallas (Olympiakos) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
43. Eden Hazard (Lille) 14 x 2 = 28
Martin Harnik (Stuttgart) 14 x 2 = 28
‘Raúl’ González Blanco (Schalke) 14 x 2 = 28
**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.
