Lionel Messi maintains his lead at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe standings after coming off the bench and scoring in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Deportivo La Coruna.

That’s 39* for the season for the Argentinian and the 17th consecutive league game in which he has scored. According to Barcelona, that sets a new record, eclipsing the previous mark of 16 matches set in 1937-38 by Pole Teodor Pewterek for Ruch Chorzow.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo scored both goals in Real Madrid’s 2-1 win at Celta Vigo, while England’s leading scorer, Luis Suarez, took his tally to the season to 24 courtesy of the opener in Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur. Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved back into the top ten with a brace for Paris-Saint Germain against Nancy. The Swede now stands level with Napoli’s Edinson Cavani and Vitesse Arnhem’s Wilfred Bony who scored the only goal of the game against FC Twente.

* There is some dispute over Messi’s ‘goal’ against Athletic Bilbao on December 2, and until that has been clarified we have chosen to exclude it from his official tally.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 39 x 2 = 78
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 26 x 2 = 52
3. Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 23 x 2 = 46
4. Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 22 x 2 = 44
5. Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 21 x 2 = 42
6. Robin van Persie (Manchester United) 19 x 2 = 38
7. Philipp Hosiner (Austria Vienna) 25 x 1.5 = 37.5
8. Wilfried Bony (Vitesse) 24 x 1.5 = 36
Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 18 x 2 = 36
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 24 x 1.5 = 36
11. Arturas Rimkevicius (FK Siauliai) 35 x 1 = 35
12. Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 17 x 2 = 34
13. Eliran Atar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 22 x 1,5 = 33
14. Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) 16 x 2 = 32
Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen) 16 x 2 = 32
Stephan El Shaarawy (Milan) 16 x 2 = 32
17. Demba Ba (Newcastle United/Chelsea) 15 x 2 = 30
Carlos Bacca (Club Brugge) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Rafik Djebbour (Olympiakos) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich) 15 x 2 = 30
Miguel Pérez Cuesta ‘Michu’ (Swansea City) 15 x 2 = 30
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 15 x 2 = 30
Graziano Pellè (Feyenoord) 20 x 1.5 = 30
24. Alfred Finnbogason (Heerenveen) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Michael Higdon (Motherwell) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Billy McKay (Inverness Caledonian Thistle) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
28. Oscar Cardozo (Benfica) 14 x 2 = 28
Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla) 14 x 2 = 28
30. Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Raul Rusescu (Steaua Bucharest) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Jonathan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 18 x 1.5 = 27
33. Rubén Castro (Real Betis Sevilla) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Éder’zito António Macedo Lopes (Sporting Braga) 13 x 2 = 26
Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion) 13 x 2 = 26
Albert Meyong (Vitoria Setúbal) 13 x 2 = 26
Giampaolo Pazzini (Milan) 13 x 2 = 26
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 13 x 2 = 26
39. Jozy Altidore (AZ) 17 x 1.5 = 25.5
Ebrahim Sawaneh ‘Ibou’ (Oud-Heverlee Leuven) 17 x 1.5 = 25.5
Dieumerci Mbokani (Anderlecht) 17 x 1.5 = 25.5
42. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao) 12 x 2 = 24
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Saint-Etienne) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) 12 x 2 = 24
Andreas Cornelius (FC Copenhagen) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 12 x 2 = 24
Rickie Lambert (Southampton) 12 x 2 = 24
Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina) 12 x 2 = 24
Erik Lamela (Roma) 12 x 2 = 24
Rodrigo Lima (Benfica) 12 x 2 = 24
Niall McGinn (Aberdeen FC16 x 1.5 = 24
Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 12 x 2 = 24
Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) 12 x 2 = 24
Adám Szalai (Mainz 05) 12 x 2 = 24
Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad) 12 x 2 = 24
Jelle Vossen (Genk) 16 x 1.5 = 24
* Standings last updated 11/03/2013

**Rules

Only the leading four countries – Spain, Italy, Germany, 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.