KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- Lionel Messi is continuing to underline his status as one of the greatest players in the history of association football with the goals which keep him out in front of the field in the ESM Golden Shoe which rewards annually the leading league marksman in European football.
The Argentinian totals 25 goals so far, three more than Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe and four ahead of Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi pressed on at the weekend by scoring his 50th career hat-trick as he inspired Barcelona’s comeback to beat Sevilla 4-2 and keep the champions unassailable at the top of the Spanish league.
Lionel Messi: Goals, goals, goals . . .
First he equalised with a stunning volley from 16 yards out, then levelled again with a curling shot from the edge of the box. Finally Messi chipped the opposition goalkeeper for his third on 85 minutes, his 36th goal in 35 games against Sevilla.
That third goal was Messi’s 650th career strike – 585 for Barca and 65 for Argentina. For good measure he then set up Luis Suarez for a fourth goal in injury time.
Computation
This latest hat-trick took Messi nine goals clear of teammate Suarez. In all competitions, he has 33 goals in 32 games – including six in the Champions League as Barcelona chase the treble.
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) 25 x 2 = 50
2. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 22 x 2 = 44
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) 19 x 2 = 38
4. Krzysztof Piatek (Genoa CFC/AC Milan) 18 x 2 = 36
5. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero (Manchester City) 17 x 2 = 34
— Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) 17 x 2 = 34
— Fabio Quagliarella (UC Sampdoria) 17 x 2 = 34
— Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 17 x 2 = 34
9. Nicolas Pépé (Lille OSC) 16 x 2 = 32
— Luis Suárez (FC Barcelona) 16 x 2 = 32
— Duván Zapata (Atalanta Bergamo) 16 x 2 = 32
12. Mbaye Diagne (Kasimpasa SK/Galatasaray SK) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
— Robert Skov (FC København) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
14. Ellenton ‘Liliu’ (Nõmme Kalju FC) 31 x 1 = 31
15. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 15 x 2 = 30
Zakaria Beglarishvili (FC Flora Tallinn) 30 x 1 = 30
Luuk de Jong (PSV Eindhoven) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Luka Jovic (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 15 x 2 = 30
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 15 x 2 = 30
Nikolai Komlichenko (FK Mladá Boleslav) 20 x 1,5 = 30
‘Paulinho’ de Oliveira (BK Häcken) 20 x 1,5 = 30
Mbwane Ally Samatta (KRC Genk) 20 x 1,5 = 30
23. Patrick Hoban (FC Dundalk) 29 x 1 = 29
24. Arkadiusz Milik (SSC Napoli) 14 x 2 = 28
25. Roman Debelko (FC Levadia Tallinn) 27 x 1 = 27
Linus Hallenius (GIF Sundsvall) 18 x 1,5 = 27
27. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Neymar’ da Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) 13 x 2 = 26
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) 13 x 2 = 26
Cristhian Stuani (Girona FC) 13 x 2 = 26
31. Paco Alcácer (Borussia Dortmund) 12 x 2 = 24
‘Charles’ Dias de Oliveira (SD Eibar) 12 x 2 = 24
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid) 12 x 2 = 24
Hamdi Harbaoui (SV Zulte Waregem) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC) 12 x 2 = 24
Wahbi Khazri (AS Saint-Étienne) 12 x 2 = 24
Sadio Mané (Liverpool FC) 12 x 2 = 24
Yussuf Poulsen (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 12 x 2 = 24
Emiliano Sala (FC Nantes/Cardiff City) 12 x 2 = 24
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) 12 x 2 = 24
Dusan Tadic (AFC Ajax) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Florian Thauvin (Olympique Marseille) 12 x 2 = 24
43. Liviu Antal (FK Zalgiris Vilnius) 23 x 1 = 23
44. Efthymios Koulouris (Atromitos FC) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Haris Seferovic (SL Benfica) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Andreas Skov Olsen (FC Nordsjaelland) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
George Tucudean (CFR Cluj 1907) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
48. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 11 x 2 = 22
Francesco Caputo (Empoli FC) 11 x 2 = 22
Sébastien Haller (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 11 x 2 = 22
Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 11 x 2 = 22
Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) 11 x 2 = 22
Paul Pogba (Manchester United) 11 x 2 = 22
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur) 11 x 2 = 22
Timo Werner (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 11 x 2 = 22
Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla FC) 11 x 2 = 22
Budu Zivzivadze (FC Dinamo Tblisi) 22 x 1 = 22
58. Igor Angulo Albóniga (Górnik Zabrze) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Bas Dost (Sporting Clube de Portugal) 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
Ebere Paul Onuachu (FC Midtjylland) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Ezequiel Ponce (AEK Athens FC) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Dejan Sorgic (FC Thun) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Dyego Wilverson Sousa (Sporting Braga) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Kamil Wilczek (Brøndby IF) 14 x 1,5 = 21
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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).
