It was a quiet week at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe standings. With Lionel Messi taking a rare week off courtesy of the hamstring injury he picked up during Barcelona’s Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain, an opportunity arose for his rivals to close the gap at the top. 

Cristiano Ronaldo was the only player in the top ten to get on the scoresheet at the weekend, the striker scoring once in Real Madrid’s 5-1 demolition of Levante. That’s 28 for the season for the Portuguese forward – 14 behind runaway leader Messi.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 42 x 2 = 84*
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 28 x 2 = 56
3. Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 23 x 2 = 46
4. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 22 x 2 = 44
Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) 22 x 2 = 44
Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 22 x 2 = 44
7. Wilfried Bony (Vitesse) 27 x 1.5 = 40,5
Philipp Hosiner (Austria Vienna) 27 x 1.5 = 40.5
9. Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 20 x 2 = 40
10. Robin van Persie (Manchester United) 19 x 2 = 38
11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 25 x 1.5 = 37.5
12. Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen) 18 x 2 = 36
13. Arturas Rimkevicius (Siauliai) 35 x 1 = 35
14. Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) 17 x 2 = 34
15. Eliran Atar (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 22 x 1.5 = 33
Carlos Bacca (Club Brugge) 22 x 1.5 = 33
17. Miguel Pérez Cuesta ‘Michu’ (Swansea City) 16 x 2 = 32
Stephan El Shaarawy (Milan) 16 x 2 = 32
19. Alfred Finnbogason (Heerenveen) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
Michael Higdon (Motherwell) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
Graziano Pellè (Feyenoord) 21 x 1.5 = 31.5
22. Demba Ba (Newcastle United/Chelsea) 15 x 2 = 30
Oscar Cardozo (Benfica) 15 x 2 = 30
Rafik Djebbour (Olympiakos) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian) 20 x 1.5 = 30
Rodrigo Lima (Benfica) 15 x 2 = 30
Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich) 15 x 2 = 30
Billy McKay (Inverness Caledonian Thistle) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 15 x 2 = 30
Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla) 15 x 2 = 30
31. Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
Jonathan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 19 x 1.5 = 28.5
33. Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) 14 x 2 = 28
Rickie Lambert (Southampton) 14 x 2 = 28
Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 14 x 2 = 28
36. Jozy Altidore (AZ) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Niall McGinn (Aberdeen) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Raul Rusescu (Steaua Bucharest) 18 x 1.5 = 27
Burak Yilmaz (Galatasaray) 18 x 1.5 = 27
40. Rubén Castro (Real Betis) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Éder’zito António Macedo Lopes (Sporting Braga) 13 x 2 = 26
Erik Lamela (Roma) 13 x 2 = 26
Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion) 13 x 2 = 26
Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 13 x 2 = 26
Albert Meyong (Vitoria Setúbal) 13 x 2 = 26
Giampaolo Pazzini (Milan) 13 x 2 = 26
Adám Szalai (Mainz 05) 13 x 2 = 26
48. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Saint-Etienne) 17 x 1.5 = 25.5
Andreas Cornelius (FC Copenhagen) 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
52. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao) 12 x 2 = 24
Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) 12 x 2 = 24
German Gustavo Denis (Atalanta) 12 x 2 = 24
Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 12 x 2 = 24
Gary Hooper (Celtic) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Vedad Ibisevic (Stuttgart) 12 x 2 = 24
Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina) 12 x 2 = 24
David Lafata (Sparta Prague) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 12 x 2 = 24
Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) 12 x 2 = 24
Francisco Medina Luna ‘Piti’ (Rayo Vallecano) 12 x 2 = 24
Ivan Sanchez-Rico Soto ‘Riki’ (Deportivo La Coruña) 12 x 2 = 24
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 12 x 2 = 24
Moussa Sow (Fenerbahçe) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Kalu Uche (Kasimpasa) 16 x 1.5 = 24
Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad) 12 x 2 = 24
Jelle Vossen (Genk) 16 x 1.5 = 24
* There remains 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.
** Standings last updated 11/04/2013

*** 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.