MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo is on course to retain the ESM Golden Shoe after he extended his lead at the top of the standings to four goals with just one match remaining.

The Real Madrid forward scored his seventh hat-trick of the season to give Real Madrid a 4-1 win at Espanyol.

Victory could not prevent Barcelona from claiming the Spanish league title, courtesy of a 1-0 win at Atletico de Madrid,  it did provide Ronaldo with a slither of personal satisfaction as he appeared to build an impregnable lead over his great rival Lionel Messi.

The Portuguese has now scored 45 goals to the Argentine’s 41 – the latter’s 41st being the goal beat Atletico.

The final place on the podium in this season’s standings appears destined for Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, who has scored 25 goals this season.

Elsewhere in the top ten there was a new entrant, with Jackson Martinez climbing to 7th spot after he scored for Porto in their 1-1 draw with Belenenses.

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) 45 x 2 = 90
2. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 41 x 2 = 82
3. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) 25 x 2 = 50
4. Jonatan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 30 x 1,5 = 45
5. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) 22 x 2 = 44
‘Neymar’ da Silva (FC Barcelona) 22 x 2 = 44
7. Jackson Martinez (FC Porto) 21 x 2 = 42
8. Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyon) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
Eran Zahavi (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
10. Carlos Bacca (Sevilla FC) 20 x 2 = 40
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 20 x 2 = 40
Carlos Tevez (Juventus) 20 x 2 = 40
13. Diego Costa (Chelsea) 19 x 2 = 38
Mauro Icardi (Internazionale) 19 x 2 = 38
Alexander Meier (Eintracht Frankfurt) 19 x 2 = 38
Luca Toni (Hellas Verona) 19 x 2 = 38
17. Evgeni Kabaev (Sillamäe Kalev) 36 x 1 = 36
‘Jonas’ Gonçalves Oliveira (SL Benfica) 18 x 2 = 36
19. Robert Beric (SK Rapid Wien) 23 x 1,5 = 34,5
20. Charlie Austin (Queens Park Rangers) 17 x 2 = 34
Rodrigo José ‘Lima’ dos Santos (SL Benfica) 17 x 2 = 34
Arjen Robben (FC Bayern München) 17 x 2 = 34
23. Andrej Kramaric (HNK Rijeka/Leicester City) 21 x 1,5 + 1 x 2 = 33,5
24. Memphis Depay (PSV) 22 x 1,5 = 33
José ‘Fernandão’ Viana de Santana (Bursaspor) 22 x 1,5 = 33
26. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic de Bilbao) 16 x 2 = 32
Alberto Bueno (Rayo Vallecano) 16 x 2 = 32
Bas Dost (VfL Wolfsburg) 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
Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) 16 x 2 = 32
Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 16 x 2 = 32
Igor Subbotin (Levadia Tallinn) 32 x 1 = 32
35. Shkelzen Gashi (FC Basel) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
André-Pierre Gignac (Olympique Marseille) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
Ángelo Henríquez (NK Dinamo Zagreb) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
38. Joe Gormley (Cliftonville FC) 31 x 1 = 31
39. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) 15 x 2 = 30
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 15 x 2 = 30
Luuk de Jong (PSV) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Fabrice Kouadio ‘Manucho’ (FC Infonet) 30 x 1 = 30
‘Marco Matías’ da Silva Lopes (CD Nacional) 15 x 2 = 30
44. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
45. Domenico Berardi (US Sassuolo) 14 x 2 = 28
‘Jonathas’ Cristian de Jesus (Elche CF) 14 x 2 = 28
Manolo Gabbiadini (UC Sampdoria/SSC Napoli) 14 x 2 = 28
Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) 14 x 2 = 28
Vladislavs Gutkovskis (Skonto Riga) 28 x 1 = 28
Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 14 x 2 = 28
Antonio Di Natale (Udinese Calcio) 14 x 2 = 28
Chris Venables (Aberystwyth Town) 28 x 1 = 28
53. Demba Ba (Besiktas JK) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Paul Heatley (Crusaders FC) 27 x 1 = 27
David Lafata (AH Sparta Praha) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Marcel Sabitzer (Red Bull Salzburg) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Milan Skoda (Slavia Praha) 18 x 1,5 = 27

** 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).
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