Another two goals for Lionel Messi in Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Ray Vallecano, extends his lead at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe standings to 28 points.
That’s 41* for the season for the Argentinian and the 18th consecutive league game in which he has been on target – thus extending his own record for scoring in successive matches.
Messi’s closest contender, albeit a distant one, is Cristiano Ronaldo, who maintained his impressive form by scoring in Real Madrid’s 5-2 demolition of Deportivo La Coruna,
Elsewhere, there were plenty of goals from Europe’s leading marksmen with braces for Austria Vienna’s Philipp Hosiner, Napoli’s Edinson Cavani and Vitesse Arnhem’s Wilfried Bony, plus a solitary strike for Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Despite that effort, the Swede drops out of the top ten to be replaced by Robert Lewandowski, who scored twice in Borussia Dortmund’s 5-1 win over Freiburg.
* 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
**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.
