Golden Shoe beckons Messi as rankings race enters last straight
LONDON: With two weeks of competition remaining, Lionel Messi appears in assailable in his pursuit of the ESM Golden Shoe which rewards Europe’s leading league marksman.
Messi’s two goals in Barcelona’s 4-2 weekend win over Eibar on the last day of the Spanish season was a consolation for loss of the domesytic league title to Real Madrid.
The 29-year-old Argentina thus closed in on what would be his fourth Golden Shoe in seven years.
His goals lifted his tally to 37 for the season, three clear of Bas Dost of Sporting Clube and six ahead of Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Both Portuguese and German league seasons have also concluded.
Tottenham’s Harry Kane is set to finish fifth overall after his remarkable feat of seven goals in four days in Spurs’ last two games of the Premier League campaign.
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 (Denmark) are multiplied by 1.5.
As in previous years the Golden Shoe does not consider goals in play-off competitions.
Golden Shoe standings
(Ranking multiplication based on UEFA coefficient status)
1. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 37 x 2 = 74
2. Bas Dost (Sporting Clube de Portugal) 34 x 2 = 68
3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) 31 x 2 = 62
4. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 30 x 2 = 60
5. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 29 x 2 = 58
6. Edin Džeko (AS Roma) 28 x 2 = 56
— Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 28 x 2 = 56
8. Dries Mertens (SSC Napoli) 27 x 2 = 54
9. Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) 35 x 1,5 = 52,5
10. Andrea Belotti (Torino FC) 25 x 2 = 50
— Romelu Lukaku (Everton FC) 25 x 2 = 50
— Anthony Modeste (1.FC Köln) 25 x 2 = 50
— Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 25 x 2 = 50
14. Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus) 24 x 2 = 48
Mauro Icardi (Internazionale) 24 x 2 = 48
Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) 24 x 2 = 48
17. Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 22 x 2 = 44
18. Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyonnais) 28 x 1,5 = 42
Timo Werner (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 21 x 2 = 42
20. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) 20 x 2 = 40
Diego Costa (Chelsea) 20 x 2 = 40
22. Iago Aspas (RC Celta de Vigo) 19 x 2 = 38
Francisco Soares ‘Tiquinho’ (Vitória Guimarães SC/FC Porto) 19 x 2 = 38
24. Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur) 18 x 2 = 36
25. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) 17 x 2 = 34
Lorenzo Insigne (SSC Napoli) 17 x 2 = 34
27. Marcus Berg (Panathinaikos) 22 x 1,5 = 33
28. Aritz Aduriz (Athletic de Bilbao) 16 x 2 = 32
Marco Borriello (US Cagliari Calcio) 16 x 2 = 32
Mario Gomez (VfL Wolfsburg) 16 x 2 = 32
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) 16 x 2 = 32
Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 16 x 2 = 32
’Keita’ Baldé Diao (SS Lazio Roma) 16 x 2 = 32
Joshua King (Bournemouth AFC) 16 x 2 = 32
Konstantinos Mitroglou (SL Benfica) 16 x 2 = 32
André Silva (FC Porto) 16 x 2 = 32
37. Radamel Falcao (AS Monaco) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
Nicolai Jørgensen (Feyenoord) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
‘Vágner Love’ Silva da Souza (Alanyaspor) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
40. Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace) 15 x 2 = 30
Jermaine Defoe (Sunderland AFC) 15 x 2 = 30
Matt Derbyshire (AC Omonia Nicosia) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Alejandro Gómez (Atalanta Bergamo) 15 x 2 = 30
Bafétimbi Gomis (Olympique Marseille) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Nikola Kalinić (ACF Fiorentina) 15 x 2 = 30
Andrej Kramaric (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) 15 x 2 = 30
Max Kruse (SV Werder Bremen) 15 x 2 = 30
Fernando Llorente (Swansea City) 15 x 2 = 30
Mohamed Salah (AS Roma) 15 x 2 = 30
Łukasz Teodorczyk (RSC Anderlecht) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Vitesse) 20 x 1,5 = 30
52. Samuel Armenteros (Heracles Almelo) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Reza Ghoochannejhad (sc Heerenveen) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Younés Hamza (Xanthi FC) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Christian Gytkjaer (Rosenborg BK) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
56. Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid) 14 x 2 = 28
Pero Pejic (FK Kukësi) 28 x 1 = 28
Sandro Ramírez Castillo (Málaga CF) 14 x 2 = 28
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur) 14 x 2 = 28
60. Kike Gomez (Europa FC) 27 x 1 = 27
Guillaume Hoarau (BSC Young Boys) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Otto John (KF Trepça’89) 27 x 1 = 27
Fedor Smolov (FK Krasnodar) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Cenk Tosun (Besiktas JK) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Enes Ünal (FC Twente) 18 x 1,5 = 27
66. Carlos Bacca (AC Milan) 13 x 2 = 26
José Callejón (SSC Napoli) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Rubén Castro’ Martín (Real Betis Balompié) 13 x 2 = 26
Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool FC) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Jonas’ Goncalves (SL Benfica) 13 x 2 = 26
Sadio Mané (Liverpool FC) 13 x 2 = 26
Moussa Marega (Vitória Guimarães SC) 13 x 2 = 26
Marco Martini (SP La Fiorita) 26 x 1 = 26
Gerard Moreno (RCD Espanyol) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Neymar’ da Silva Santos Júnior (FC Barcelona) 13 x 2 = 26
Omar Er Rafik (FC Differdange 03) 26 x 1 = 26
Arjen Robben (FC Bayern München) 13 x 2 = 26
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 13 x 2 = 26
79. Riad Bajic (Konyaspor) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Mimoun Mahi (FC Groningen) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
John Owoeri (BK Häcken) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
82. Evgeni Kabaev (Sillamäe Kalev) 25 x 1 = 25
Andrew Mitchell (Dungannon Swifts FC) 25 x 1 = 25
84. Deni Alar (SK Sturm Graz) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Egzijan Alioski (FC Lugano) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Florin Andone (Deportivo La Coruña) 12 x 2 = 24
Kasper Dolberg (AFC Ajax) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Seydou Doumbia (FC Basel) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Samuel Eto’o Fils (Antalyaspor) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Diego Falcinelli (FC Crotone) 12 x 2 = 24
Markó Futács (HNK Hajduk Split) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Kevin Gameiro (Atlético Madrid) 12 x 2 = 24
Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) 12 x 2 = 24
Vedad Ibišević (Hertha BSC Berlin) 12 x 2 = 24
Willian José (Real Sociedad) 12 x 2 = 24
Bojan Kaljević (Balzan FC) 24 x 1 = 24
Olarenwaju Kayode (FK Austria Wien) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Azdren Llullaku (CS Gaz Metan Mediaş) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Giovanni Simeone (Genoa CFC) 12 x 2 = 24
Pieros Sotirou (APOEL Nicosia FC) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Cyril Théréau (Udinese Calcio) 12 x 2 = 24
102. Gerard Gohou (FC Kairat Almaty) 23 x 1 = 23
Klæmint Olsen (NSÍ Runavik) 23 x 1 = 23
