LONDON: Lionel Messi is already catching up fast on the ‘calendar year’ leaders in the contest for the ESM Golden Shoe whch rewards the leading marksman in European football writes KEIR RADNEDGE.
Messi’s goal for Barcelona in the weekend’s 2-0 LaLiga win at home to Celta Vigo lifted him to 15 goals for the season thus far, equating to 30 points in the latest standings. That means the 31-year-old is already in joint second place. Last season his Spanish league tally of 34 goals earned him the award for a record fifth time.
Current leader – albeit not for much longer given Messi’s prolific scoring rate – is Brazilian Ellinton Antonio Costa Morais. The 28-year-old from Bauru, known as Liliu, scored 31 goals for Nõmme Kalju of Estonia in a ranking still largely dominated by the leading goalscorers in the completed 2018 domestic tournaments.
The Golden Shoe is based on a ranking computed according to UEFA’s July rankings. Thus marksmen from among the top five nations benefit from a multiple of 2.0, the next batch 1.5 and the remainder 1.0.
Last year France replaced Portugal in the top five meaning the value of goals in Ligue 1 rose to 2.0 while the valuation for for players from Benfica, Sporting and Porto etc was downgraded to 1.5. Goals in the countries ranked on down from 23 stand at face value.
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. Ellenton ‘Liliu’ (Nõmme Kalju FC) 31 x 1 = 31
2. Zakaria Beglarishvili (FC Flora Tallinn) 30 x 1 = 30
— Mbaye Diagne (Kasimpasa SK) 20 x 1,5 = 30
— Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 15 x 2 = 30
— ‘Paulinho’ de Oliveira (BK Häcken) 20 x 1,5 = 30
6. Patrick Hoban (FC Dundalk) 29 x 1 = 29
7. Roman Debelko (FC Levadia Tallinn) 27 x 1 = 27
Linus Hallenius (GIF Sundsvall) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Nikolai Komlichenko (FK Mladá Boleslav) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Robert Skov (FC København) 18 x 1,5 = 27
11. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 13 x 2 = 26
Krzysztof Piatek (Genoa CFC) 13 x 2 = 26
13. Paco Alcácer (Borussia Dortmund) 12 x 2 = 24
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 12 x 2 = 24
Luka Jovic (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 12 x 2 = 24
Nicolas Pépé (Lille OSC) 12 x 2 = 24
Emiliano Sala (FC Nantes) 12 x 2 = 24
18. Liviu Antal (FK Zalgiris Vilnius) 23 x 1 = 23
19. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 11 x 2 = 22
‘Neymar’ da Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) 11 x 2 = 22
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) 11 x 2 = 22
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 11 x 2 = 22
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 11 x 2 = 22
Cristhian Stuani (Girona FC) 11 x 2 = 22
Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 11 x 2 = 22
Florian Thauvin (Olympique Marseille) 11 x 2 = 22
Timo Werner (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 11 x 2 = 22
Budu Zivzivadze (FC Dinamo Tblisi) 22 x 1 = 22
29. Luuk de Jong (PSV Eindhoven) 14 x 1,5 = 21
João Klauss (HJK Helsinki) 21 x 1 = 21
Tristan Koskor (JK Tammeka Tartu) 21 x 1 = 21
Aluísio ‘Júnior Moraes’ (FC Shakhtar Donetsk) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Mbwane Ally Samatta (KRC Genk) 14 x 1,5 = 21
34. Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 10 x 2 = 20
Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) 10 x 2 = 20
Giorgi Gabedava (FC Chikhura Sachkhere) 20 x 1 = 20
Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 10 x 2 = 20
Adrian Justinussen (HB Tórshavn) 20 x 1 = 20
Mykola Kovtalyuk (FC Dila Gori) 20 x 1 = 20
Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 10 x 2 = 20
Fabio Quagliarella (UC Sampdoria) 10 x 2 = 20
42. Nikola Djurdjic (Hammarby IF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Romain Gall (GIF Sundsvall/Malmö FF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Guillaume Hoarau (BSC Young Boys) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Ionut Mitrita (Universitatea Craiova 1948) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Markus Rosenberg (Malmö FF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Francisco ‘Fran’ Sol (Willem II) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
George Tucudean (CFR Cluj 1907) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Kamil Wildzek (Brøndby IF) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
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* 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), Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy), 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).
