LONDON:  Cristiano Ronaldo’s success in outscoring Lionel Messi at the weekend marginally extended his lead in the race for the ESM Golden Boot which rewards the leading marksman in European league competition.

Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 3-2 win at Sevilla to take his total to 42 for the Liga season while Messi struck twice in Barcelona’s 8-0 thrashing of Cordoba to reach 40 for the campaign.

Only goals in domestic regular season league competition count for the Golden Shoe.

Players’ goals totals are multiplied by a 1-2-3 ranking of the countries according to the UEFA Ranking of last July 1. That means the goals from numbers one (Spain) to five (Portugal) are doubled, goals from places six  (France) to 22 (Croatia) are multiplied by 1.5.

Goals in league tournament playoffs do not count.

Golden Shoe standings

(Ranking multiplication based on UEFA coefficient status)

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 42 x 2 = 84

2. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 40 x 2 = 80

3. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) 21 x 2 = 42
— Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) 22 x 2 = 44
5. Jonatan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 29 x 1,5 = 43,5
— ‘Neymar’ da Silva (FC Barcelona) 21 x 2 = 42
7. Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyon) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
8. Carlos Bacca (Sevilla FC) 20 x 2 = 40
— Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 20 x 2 = 40
— Carlos Tevez (Juventus) 20 x 2 = 40
11. Eran Zahavi (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 26 x 1,5 = 39
12. Diego Costa (Chelsea) 19 x 2 = 38
— Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 19 x 2 = 38
14. Evgeni Kabaev (Sillamäe Kalev) 36 x 1 = 36
Mauro Icardi (Internazionale) 18 x 2 = 36
Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 18 x 2 = 36
Luca Toni (Hellas Verona) 18 x 2 = 36
18. Charlie Austin (Queens Park Rangers) 17 x 2 = 34
‘Jonas’ Gonçalves Oliveira (SL Benfica) 17 x 2 = 34
Arjen Robben (FC Bayern München) 17 x 2 = 34
21. Andrej Kramaric (HNK Rijeka/Leicester City) 21 x 1,5 + 1 x 2 = 33,5
22. Alberto Bueno (Rayo Vallecano) 16 x 2 = 32
Gonzalo Higuaín (SSC Napoli) 16 x 2 = 32
Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 16 x 2 = 32
Jérémy Menez (AC Milan) 16 x 2 = 32
Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 16 x 2 = 32
Igor Subbotin (Levadia Tallinn) 32 x 1 = 32
28. Memphis Depay (PSV) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
Shkelzen Gashi (FC Basel) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
30. Joe Gormley (Cliftonville FC) 31 x 1 = 31
31. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic de Bilbao) 15 x 2 = 30
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 15 x 2 = 30
Robert Beric (SK Rapid Wien) 20 x 1,5 = 30
André-Pierre Gignac (Olympique Marseille) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Rodrigo José ‘Lima’ dos Santos (SL Benfica) 15 x 2 = 30
Fabrice Kouadio ‘Manucho’ (FC Infonet) 30 x 1 = 30
37. Luuk de Jong (PSV) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
38. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) 14 x 2 = 28
Bas Dost (VfL Wolfsburg) 14 x 2 = 28
Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) 14 x 2 = 28
Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 14 x 2 = 28
Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) 14 x 2 = 28
Vladislavs Gutkovskis (Skonto Riga) 28 x 1 = 28
Chris Venables (Aberystwyth Town) 28 x 1 = 28
45. José ‘Fernandão’ Viana de Santana (Bursaspor) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Paul Heatley (Crusaders FC) 27 x 1 = 27
47. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) 13 x 2 = 26
Paulo Dybala (US Palermo) 13 x 2 = 26
Manolo Gabbiadini (UC Sampdoria/SSC Napoli) 13 x 2 = 26
Marco André Matias (CD Nacional) 13 x 2 = 26
Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München) 13 x 2 = 26
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese Calcio) 13 x 2 = 26
Jordan Owens (Crusaders FC) 26 x 1 = 26
Fabio Quagliarella (Torino) 13 x 2 = 26
Franco di Santo (Werder Bremen) 13 x 2 = 26
56. Demba Ba (Besiktas JK) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Jerónimo Barrales (Asteras Tripolis) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Michiel Kramer (ADO Den Haag) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
David Lafata (AC Sparta Praha) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Milan Skoda (Slavia Praha) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5

** The Golden Shoe is administered, computed and formulated by the European Sports Media group whose members comprise: A Bola (Portugal), ElfVoetbal (Netherlands), Fanatik (Turkey), Foot Magazine (Belgium), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), GoalNews/Sentragoal (Greece), Guerin Sportivo (Italy), Kicker (Germany), Marca (Spain), Nemzeti Sport (Hungary), SoFoot (France), Sport Express (Russia), Telegraaf/Telesport (Netherlands), Tipsbladet (Denmark), World Soccer (England). Affiliated members: Kick Off (South Africa), Titan Sport (China), Netease (China), SportalKorea (South-Korea).###########