LONDON: Lionel Messi has marked the new year by taking over as new leader of the rankings for the ESM Golden Shoe which rewards the leading marksman in European football writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Messi’s first goal for Barcelona in the weekend’s 2-1 LaLiga win at Getafe lifted him to 16 goals for the season thus far, equating to 32 points in the latest standings. Last season his Spanish league tally of 34 goals earned him the award for a record fifth time.

Previous leader was 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. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 16 x 2 = 32
2. Ellenton ‘Liliu’ (Nõmme Kalju FC) 31 x 1 = 31
3. Zakaria Beglarishvili (FC Flora Tallinn) 30 x 1 = 30
Mbaye Diagne (Kasimpasa SK) 20 x 1,5 = 30
–‘Paulinho’ de Oliveira (BK Häcken) 20 x 1,5 = 30
6. Patrick Hoban (FC Dundalk) 29 x 1 = 29
7. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 14 x 2 = 28
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 14 x 2 = 28
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 14 x 2 = 28
10. 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
14. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 13 x 2 = 26
Krzysztof Piatek (Genoa CFC) 13 x 2 = 26
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 13 x 2 = 26
17. Paco Alcácer (Borussia Dortmund) 12 x 2 = 24
Luka Jovic (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 12 x 2 = 24
Nicolas Pépé (Lille OSC) 12 x 2 = 24
Fabio Quagliarella (UC Sampdoria) 12 x 2 = 24
Emiliano Sala (FC Nantes) 12 x 2 = 24
Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 12 x 2 = 24
23. Liviu Antal (FK Zalgiris Vilnius) 23 x 1 = 23
24. Mbwane Ally Samatta (KRC Genk) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
25. ‘Neymar’ da Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) 11 x 2 = 22
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) 11 x 2 = 22
Cristhian Stuani (Girona FC) 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
31. 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
35. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 10 x 2 = 20
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
Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC) 10 x 2 = 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
Arkadiusz Milik (SSC Napoli) 10 x 2 = 20
Duván Zapata (Atalanta Bergamo) 10 x 2 = 20
46. Nany Landry Dimata (RSC Anderlecht) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
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 Wilczek (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).
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